Protecting Grace
by Neut
Summary: Grace,a recent University graduate, managed to land a job in Buckingham Palace. She begins to learn the Royal family are not what they seem and finds herself having to deal with more than just media; she has to deal with a plan to destroy not only the Prince she's learnt to love but his family and the Savant Net, but also how the world perceives Savants. Will Grace be able to cope?
1. Chapter 1

**One**

Graduation.

I guess, as many people phrase it, I have been waiting for this for the vast majority of my life. It had been expected from me to graduate from university. Well, it had been expected from both my brother and me, but Jack had gone down a different route completely.

Both Jack and I had grown up in a good area, went to a good school, and we were just expected to go to university, get a good job, and have loads of children in a happy marriage, assume the normal roles of hard-working father and good house-mother, and that was it. It didn't matter that we were Savant's, because genetics mean nothing when it came to hard work. However, when I was thirteen and Jack fifteen, we wanted our own fate. My school work went off track when I wanted to be an anti-bullying mentor after I watched my older brother get beaten within school because of his sexuality. I focused so hard on changing the way the school was that I never studied any more. My grades slipped, my attainment in classes fell tenfold but I saw my brother get help in school. He no longer was getting bullied because of the work I did. My parents, well, our parents, weren't happy. Sure, I did a brilliant thing but how could I get into university if I didn't get my good A-levels, which I couldn't do if I didn't have good GCSE results and i couldn't get my GCSE results to a good standard because I spent three years trying to protect my older brother. He would do the same for me if it was the other way around. I walked out of my GCSE year with seven passes to my parent's disappointment. Seven wasn't enough. Seven wasn't good enough. Seventeen, perhaps, but not seven. Not for my strict parents. I never wanted to be a disappointment to my parents, so I studied so hard for two years, alongside volunteer work and months of fundraising, I had got a condition offer for Cambridge University. I had passed every single exam, interview, assessment and essay they threw at me and nailed it. I just had to get my exam results to the top grade possible – edging to impossible – and I would be going to Cambridge!

The day of my last exam, I came out proud and happy. I had done it. I got home, helped myself to some leftover chicken in the fridge and watched some Disney films. Jack had moved out two years ago, when he decided university wasn't for him and got a job as a nurse in a paediatric outpatient's centre. It got to five, when my parents were due home. And then six. Seven. Eight. I called them and no answer, they didn't answer telepathically. It was at half nine the police arrived at my home address and told me there had been a car accident which left them both dead. I had become an orphan in a matter of minutes.

I was devastated. Broken. We sold the family home, and I moved in with my brother with us alternating who slept on the sofa. We had both been grief-strucken and unable to do much at all. Our grandparents organised their joint funeral and we just stood there at the ceremony in shock. Who could do this? A drunk driver smashed into their car, knocking them off the bridge they were on. The drunk driver was fine and escaped harm.

Results day came around and I had got into university and my student dorms were sorted. I had to go to make my parents proud. I don't believe in Heaven or any concepts of religion but I would like to think they'd be watching me and being proud of me. The lecturers there realised that, as a way to deal with my grief, I had finished the entire first years syllabus before we had even started. My gift made that easy; I could remember ever single second I had ever witnessed. Useful but so disruptive when at night you can remember the police officers telling you your parents were dead.

The lecturers made a decision to hold an exam paper for me and if I got marked at 80%, double the normal threshold for first year university students to pass onto second year, as first year is unaccounted, they would move me straight to second year. I got marked at 92% and immediately started the school year in October as a Year two at Cambridge University.

Two years later, I am graduating with a first degree in Psychology, and a minor in Forensic sciences.

"Your parents would be proud," I heard, and I turned around in my bedroom. My two flatmates, Mycelia and Sara were watching me.

"You've done the impossible, Grace, but you still came out on top" Mycelia said to me and I smiled softly. It meant a lot.

"Thanks," I whispered looking in the mirror. I had a small black dress on with a pair of kitten heels – and even the half an inch heels were risky for me. The black dress stopped just above my knee, gathered at my waist and had the top half like pinafore dress. Not that it would matter – our graduation robes would cover most of us.

"Is your yummy brother coming today?" Sara asked me as Mycelia left the room to get ready.

"Can you please stop hitting on my brother?" I asked her, sighing, pulling the dress down lightly. "He couldn't get the day off work,"

"That's a shame," Sara said. I shrugged – I wanted him so much to be here for me but I understood that he had a tight schedule.

"You're just saying that because you can't flirt with him," I muttered.

"It would be nice for someone to show some support for you, Grace, not because you and your brother are just beautiful. We're all proud of you, kiddo," Sara said to me softly, touching my shoulder. I was a year younger than everyone where, being only twenty. In my class, I had the nickname of Kiddo.

"I guess, but I understand," I told her and she nodded.

"We are leaving in ten, yes?"

"Yeah, okay," I muttered, knowing I was the only one who had a car here so of course I would be the only one driving to and from our graduation ceremony in my twelve year old Vauxhall Corsa.

"Brilliant." Sara said. "God, I wish I had your legs, Grace, they're so nice and you even shaved for this special occasion," she joked, before walking out of the door into the corridor.

I sighed, my inner gut scared to go to my own graduation ceremony but it was too late to back out. I just hoped my parents would be proud of me and my brother too. The next few months of job hunting would be tricky. Well, this next year won't go smoothly for me. I just didn't want to be a disappointment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two**

You always see thousands of pictures from people's graduations on line, swarming Faceboook streams left, right and centre but when you're there, it seems even more ridiculous. Parents of people you didn't even know started taking pictures of you with their children you've seen perhaps once or twice. It seemed stupid, but I smiled and went along with it. I pulled my robe over my shoulders for what felt like the millionth time I had done today, and Mycelia's parents immediately ran over to me to re pin it in place, making sure the white fluffy thing that was the Signature University's stupid robes sat nicely on my shoulders. Mycelia's parents were my make shift parents at any family event, always helping me, filling in my parent's place where there absence was noted. I smiled gratefully at Mycelia's Mum.

"Thanks," I whispered to her.

"Your parents would be so proud, Grace, so proud," Mikilia, Mycelia's mother whispered to me, tearing up. "You really are a special young lady, anyway, we're about to go to lunch to celebrate, would you like to join us?"

"I... er... I can't, it's a family thing," I stuttered.

"Nonsense! You're family to us!" Mikilia protested to me, hitting my arm with the force only and African mother could muster. It was true, though, Mikilia and her husband included me in everything when they found out my parents had died only a few months before I met their daughter, and they brought not only myself but also Jack Christmas presents, offered us meals and a place to stay. They even took all of us out for a meal when Jack got his promotion.

 _Hey, mother won't let you escape this one, Gracie._ Mycelia told me and gave me a slight look over her mother's shoulder. Mycelia was a Savant like myself, and we always preferred speaking telepathically.

 _No chance of escape?_

 _Is there ever a chance of escape?_ Mycelia laughed at me.

"That would be lovely, I'm just going to use the toilet," I said softly as Mikilia hugged me like she was dying and I was a liferaft.

"Good girl! We need to feed you up, you're awfully skinny," Mikilia said, taking her daughters arm and walking away and Mycelia rolled her eyes at me. I grinned slightly, walking towards the old building which was open for toilet use, reception area and a general shade area from the September heat. The building itself was spectacular; high ceilings with the original mountings and skirting boards, floors polished to an inch of their lives so much that even my worn-sole shoes were clicking on the floor. Wanting desperately to be in silence, I kicked off my shoes, picking them up and walking bare foot across the Grand Hall into the girls toilets on the other side.

"We were hoping to catch you, Grace," A man said the second I walked into the toilet. Two more followed, standing in front of the door. I was trapped. My heart rate excellerated through the roof and I edged back to the sinks, planning how to escape if they men attacked me. I scanned the one who spoke to me. Judging on the way he was leaning his weight onto his left leg, I would go for the right leg at the knee as it was clearly a sensitive area before knocking him out. Following that, the two security men would go down together, and I would have to knock them unconscious before I flee.

"Who are you?" I asked in fear.

"Your parents had asked us to keep an eye out for you if anything would happen to them," The mention of my parents from a stranger sent a heavy lead weight in my stomach. "Don't worry Grace, we're good people,"

"You've trapped me in the girls toilets on my graduation day, I wouldn't say you're good people. Look, I just want to pee and then I have a meal to attend, so if you wouldn't mind scooting out, that would be superb," I tried to get them out but the man in front of me smiled slightly.

"So much like your mother," He muttered under his breath. "Grace, we have a job proposition for you,"

"Is it kidnapping people? Not a fan,"

"Grace, let me speak please," The man said in a clear, authorities tone but after the chuck away comment about my mother I wasn't bothered anymore.

"No, get out. Fuck your job,"

"Please don't swear," The man frowned at me, his eyebrows disappearing below his black sunglasses.

"Make me, shithead,"

The man sighed, before taking off his sunglasses and shoving them in his pocket. I frowned as I recognised him from somewhere, but it was fuzzy. The man in front of me was relatively tall; about six foot, was built but any form of muscles was hidden under a black suit with a white shirt, and he was extremely formal and calm despite my shocking even to myself language.

"I haven't introduced myself. Andrew Cartrite," He said and I raised an eyebrow, wondering if that expected a reply. Did he want me to worship him. "You might know me under the name of Andy Tosken, your father often called me 'Toeskin', ringing any bells, Grace?"

The realisation hit me like a sledgehammer. Andy Toeskin, which was what my father called him, was both my Mother and Father's boss in the office job they had. I knew they both worked in accountancy in central London for the same firm, and often had to go out of town or even out of the country for work jobs but they never told us what it was they did. And we knew never to ask. It just seemed like a boring day job to pay the bills and put food on the table. We had had Toeskin over for a few meals, where all seemed very happy and polite and both my father and Jack, and Toeskin, would play at the soccer table, whilst my mother and me would cook the food. Very stereotypical, until I got pissed off slicing carrots and whipped all of their asses 3-1 at table soccer. That shut Toeskin up quickly. But now he was standing in front of me, sneering almost.

"I hope your table soccer skills haven't got much better," I mumbled.

"I've been practising since we recruited you," He sighed.

"I'm not taking your shitty job though, I'm not my parents, I've never worked in accountancy and I'm not good with numbers. Also, as you might have noticed, I did just graduate with a degree in psychology. I don't think I'm the person you're looking for," I explained.

"Grace, listen," Toeskin said to me. "What I'm about to tell you may come as a shock, but you have to promise me to listen and understand that ever word I am saying is the truth. I know you can do that, Grace, it's your second gift that you got from your parents. I know you can read humans as easy as you can read the thirteen languages your fluent in," Toeskin said and I frowned at him. How the bloody hell did he know that? I had told no one I'm fluent in thirteen languages apart from my parents; as someone who can remember every second they have lived, it came in handy for revision, hence my incredible exam results that allowed me to go to Cambridge university, but also learning languages. But my second, runner-up gift if you will was being able to tell what people are feeling. It's not fancy – I don't see colours or anything – I just start having nosebleeds when people are lying to me or being deceiving. I feel sick to my gut if people are telling even the smallest fib.

"I'll take you silence as acceptance. Your parents never had an office job, and they never worked in accountancy. They were very powerful Savant's, they were wonderful people." Toeskin told me and the recognition he knew they were Savant's – and they were indeed wonderful people – caused my skin to rise in goosebumps. Toeskin recognised my reaction and acutely nodded. "Your mother from a young age, around twenty, has been working for the Government using her gift to try and track down incredibly bad people, mass murderers and those who have crimes against humanity. You know what her gift was, don't you Grace?"

"Tracking people through time to their current location. Yeah, I'm aware of it," I whispered.

"Her gift was incredibly useful for her job. Your father, however, did the more lowkey jobs of spying in broad daylight. His gift was being able to have a shield, if you will, so you never know he was there. When they met each other, they brought a whole new level to the game. Between them, they were unstoppable. They were hired jointly by M.I.5,"

I snorted. Yeah, sure, my parents. Spies.

"You know I'm not lying though, Grace," Toeskin told me and I had to nod. Every word he had said was the truth. "They worked at M.I.5 for a few years before getting married and having both yourself and Jack. I'm sure they would have gone on to have seven children if your mother's womb didn't collapse after your birth," I wrinkled my nose. Gross. How close were they at M.I.5 then? Never at my job in retail did I look at my colleagues and decide to talk to them about my uterus.

"They were incredible, and they locked up so many bad people, and they were a service to their country but also to what they believed in. A few years back, we made a promise after your mother begged us too that if anything was to happen to them, we would watch after you. Not obviously, but just to make sure you're okay. Financially, as well as mentally and so on. Since your parents death, we've watched over both yourself and Jack, but we've become interested in yourself, Grace. Jack has his talent in nursing, but if you take a graduate job in psychology you are not using your gift and your mind to the max. We would like to offer you a job, Grace, working for M.I.5,"

"Nah," I immediately said.

"We already have your first mission lined up, we just need a few signatures and you to pass the fitness test which we have no doubts you will pass with flying colours,"

"Sorry, I don't think you heard me when I said no," I repeated back to them.

"I don't think I understand you,"

"Oh, I said No. I understand it can be confusing for small minds. Look, you waltz in here on my graduation and assume me to believe that my parents worked for M.I.5 and you're miraculously offering me a job because you've been watching through my window at night?"

"If we're lying, where's your nosebleed?" Toeskin asked and I wiped my nose. Nothing. Every word they said was true. God Damn.

"We understand you might not comprehend, but this mission we have for you we need your brain and your gift so much we have a rewards for you just by accepting it. After that, if you want to quit, we'll let you."

"A... reward?" I asked dubiously imagining treasure chests and all.

"You will have your student debts paid off, as well as Sara and Mycelia. We will also pay for your brothers training in full up front for him, and pay off the rest of his mortgage for him, that is not including your own bonus you'd receive," Toeskin asked and my mouth dropped. My student fees alone was around forty thousand, the other girls were around fifty five thousand, my brothers training fees were ten thousand and his mortgage – well, you know how much houses are. "The people who you are working for under this mission chose you from a list of others, based on your parents work, and are wealthy. Hence the reward bounty,"

"Who is it?" I asked. Who could just spill around a quarter of a million on a random girl for a mission that would require only one?

"We can't say until you accept. What do you think, Grace?"

I thought about it for a moment. What harm could this all do? Even if I hated it, I would quit and I would have no student fees to pay off, neither would my two best friends, and my brother would be financially better off because he could have no mortgage and then could become a junior doctor like he has wanted to become since he was a child because he can afford the training. I would do this for my brother alone. He looked after me when I was in a numb coma from our parent's deaths, and this was the only way I could ever repay him.

"Fine, I'll do it,"

"I knew you'd change your mind," Toeskin said. "We approximate this mission will take you around four months, but all the rewards will be paid out once you accept residence where the mission is. Of course, you'll be free to go as you desire, and we'll help find you a place once your mission is finished. We will require you to come with us immediately for briefing, as your mission starts tomorrow night,"

"I will come with you if you tell me who this mission is for,"

"Grace, you're not making this easy for me," Toeskin asked.

"Good. Who is this mission for?"

"The room clear boys?" Toeskin asked to the two security guards over my shoulder and they both nodded before I heard the door open and closed.

"It's for the Royal family, Grace,"


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

"I can't believe you got offered a job on your graduation, Grace!" Sara sighed as she sat on the sofa of our flat, where we all had tenancy for another three months. Toeskin had told me yesterday that he would continue paying my share of the flat and the bills and so on, putting the money into the joint account. I had cancelled the lunch plans with Mikilia and Mycelia and their father, apologising profusely but promising an explanation to Mycelia that night. I had gone with Toeskin and the "boys" as he phrased them and headed into central London to the River house – the centre of M.I.5. There, I was dumped into a gym and forced to do the fitness test; a mixture of sit ups, push ups, crunches, swims before a 1.5 mile run in under ten minutes, and a 15 kilometre run in under an hour. I passed, somehow, every single one of them. I was given the mission brief, signing loads of paperwork before heading home, the brief still in my hands unread.

That night at around one in the morning, I read the brief. Someone who works within Buckingham Palace is not only leaking information about the Royal family themselves, but two members of cleaning staff have died under mysterious circumstances within the last four months. I will pose as a member of basic security or a maid, have the same amount of access to the Royal family as others do but I must attempt to find out who would be leaking the information. Effectively, they wanted me to rock up and stay low key for a month before starting any work so I can track down who was leaking information and why people had mysteriously died. It seemed so stupid; I couldn't bloody do that. In tears, I called Jack and explained it all and he seemed just as baffled. But it all made it worth it when he was so happy to get his training funded that he started crying down the phone. I was never doing this stupid mission for myself, but rather for Jack.

"Yeah, it was odd," I whispered as I moved my boxes into the living room. "But I could hardly turn it down,"

"What are you doing?" She asked me as Mycelia watched me from the other side of the room. She knew what I was doing as well.

"Just being a trainee psychologist at a mental health clinic," I lied .

"We'll hardly see you?"

"I'm only in London, I should have weekends free," I whispered, nibbling the corner of my thumb with nerves.

"It won't be the same without you," Mycelia commented up. "But you did the right thing accepting the job – just don't get stressed out because of it, okay?"

Later that day, I drove into central London to the address I was told to meet the security guards who would firstly search my car for any explosives or anything dodgy I shouldn't be bringing into Buckingham Palace before they would escort me into the Palace itself. The whole thing seems stupid to a whole new level as I would have no idea what I was doing or even how to address Royalty themselves. I knew very little about the Royal family themselves which was extremely embarrassing; I knew there was Queen Caroline and King Edward – after Googling them last night – and their two children, Theodore and Luke. There was controversy over the two boys for not having overly "Royal" names, and especially as Theodore, the older brother, was destine for the throne. However, both of the boys were single and very much in their prime, having both done tours abroad in the army. And they were heart throbs, mainly Luke who doesn't appear to give two shits about his Royal status and will quite happily leave the Palace with no guards or security and head on holidays abroad or just do whatever.

I pulled up into a random car park of a community hall that the postcode had sent me too. M.I.5 had text it across to me, as well as the time, but there was no one there.

Following instructions, I got out of my car but left the door open and stood away from the car slightly. The second I was more than five foot away from my car, two men appeared in a blacked out car, parking in front of my Corsa.

"Grace Williams?" The man who came out the passenger door asked me, looking me up and down. I nodded, shaking the hand he was offering. "We're your colleagues, we're just going to check your car over for explosives, drugs, or illegal contraband – it's just standard procedure," He told me.

"Thanks," I said.

"They're going to use the dogs, you're okay with this?"

"Of course,"

"Thank you," The main said, walking over to the van and telling the men in there to go ahead. He came back to speak to me.

"I haven't seen you around before, Ms. Williams," He said to me, walking over to the low fence before sitting on it. He was young, a few years older than me and was frowning at me. "It'll take them about fifteen minutes; you may as well sit down,"

I tentatively sat next to him.

"I'm new," I simply said.

"How new?"

"Andrew crashed my graduation yesterday," I said and he nodded.

"He's, er, he's not the most subtle but you learnt that the hard way, I guess. I glad you agreed though, Grace, and I hope you stay on after this mission is finished," The man said softly and I hesitated. Was he hitting on me? "Anyway, you're required to put on some more – Royalty appropriate clothes,"

"Please don't be bad," I muttered taking the black holdall he gave me to me.

"You wouldn't be allowed in Buckingham Palace in that Primark jumper," The guy said to me. "Whilst they search your car and belongings, I'm going to give you a crash course in how to address the Royals, and how not to fuck up. Go and get changed," The man said to me nodding towards the community hall and I jogged off.

Twenty minutes later, my car was cleared from any risk and they had even repacked my luggage to make it a lot neater and would probably rattle less now as well. I had a crash course in Royal etiquette from Matthew – the guy who had sat with me – in how to correctly address Royalty if desired. It more ran on a speak if you are spoken too basis, and don't get in their way. I was antisocial and wasn't planning on doing much cleaning for the first few weeks but doing more than my fair share of eavesdropping. I got told that both the King and Queen would want to see me at some point as they knew my mission and had handpicked me for the mission too, having known the work of my parents, so I would have to attempt some more etiquette before then.

"We'll have one van in front of your car, and one behind, and a police escort too, just say in the middle and don't give eye contact," Matthew said. "One of the vans will follow you into Buckingham Palace but the guards will show you where to park, and then you'll start the mission. Every two nights, you have to submit a report with any findings to Andrew, but we've gone over this already,"

I nodded.

Matthew suddenly hugged me and I stood there slightly awkward.

"I'll see you when you're back, Grace," He told me before getting into the back van – the one that would carry on as the one in front would enter the Palace with me.

It was only another twenty minute drive of which I was singing Disney before I noticed Buckingham Palace appear from the crowded streets of London. I mimicked the van in front, who got in the left lane which was labelled "DEL'" before indicating and heading into what looked like a service yard. The gates opened like they had expected us, which I guess they did, and let us drive in. The van held back as a security lad came up to me gesturing to roll down the window.

"Name?" He ordered.

"Grace Williams,"

"And you're the new security girl?"

"I am," I replied back.

"You don't look very... security,"

"You don't look very professional either with that tash," I angrily muttered.

"Car staying on sight,"

"Yup,"

"Okay. Did you at least wash your car before coming here?" The guard sneered at me and I frowned at him.

"Where am I parking?" I asked, pissed off with him.

"Go into the service yard, down a level and find space 154, that will be your parking spot until your contract inevitably ends," The guard told me and I frowned at him as he opened the metal door. Rude bastard.

The door opened to a long slope with small lights every meter and a bit on the ceiling, illuminating the drive. I slowly crawled forward down the ramp, driving into the service yards where there are several cars and vehicles already parked. To my right, loads of black cars with blacked out windows sat, which were obviously used to courier around Royalty, and then there were other cars – mainly BMW's and Audi's – and I reminded myself to drive extremely carefully as one scratch on them would then equate to the same cost of my car.

Eventually after driving around for around ten minutes I found my car park space and (flawlessly, I may have to add) reversed parked into it. I had barely got out my car by the time a man appeared next to me in a suit.

"Miss Grace Williams?" He asked and I nodded. "Lovely to meet you, my names Kieran Hawkes, and I will be your line manager working here to help you. Come, let's walk and talk. You can leave your bags for now, we'll sort them out tonight,'

"So, I'm in charge of all members of security personnel who work within the Palace, which is of course not including the Guards stationed outside. There have been members of M.I.5 that have worked here on short stays, but you're the first resident one even if it is for four months. We had to call in additional help because sensitive information is being leaked. Whilst at the moment it's just mild information over the coming few months, there will be substantial amounts of Royals from other countries trying to find suitors for Prince Theodore and Prince Luke, as they're coming up to a prime age. And if one of the boys find a suitor, it cannot reach the media."

"Of course, it goes without saying,"

"But there have been more sincere things happen within the Palace. Two of our cleaning staff have died over the last few weeks, and even though they've been cleared of any major suspicions, something doesn't add up, you know what I'm on about Grace?"

"Yeah,"

"So we just need you to pretend to be a cleaner, using your gifts to figure out who is responsible for the leak before any more incriminating evidence of the boys get out. We fully understand that you need to be able to do your thing, and the King has expressed to us you can do whatever you want in order to make sure his sons are safe. He believes whole heartedly in your work, even though you haven't done anything like this before, because your parents have worked with them for years. It's extremely odd that the King himself trusts you so much, but we believe you are the right person for the job. You have your own bedroom and white good facilities – of course a small kitchen, bathroom and so on so you can be completely dependent." Kieran told me, leading me into a lift.

"Is that where we're going now?"

"Yes, only for a small while, and then I've been asked by Queen Caroline to escort you to evening tea with her. King Edward is currently busy," and I sighed – thank God for that. I could only bare one cock up at a time and to one person too.

"Brilliant,"

"So just, put on your make up, freshen yourself up a bit more and then we'll go from there," Kieran said and I nodded.

"You know the basic etiquette you'll use, correct,"

"Oh yeah, got drilled in that earlier," I laughed.

"I'm sure you did, it's very important and can be seen as offensive," Kieran continued his spiel to me as I looked around the corridor, learning my way around. It wouldn't take me long to learn my way and here especially with my little gift. We went up three flights of stairs, down a long corridor to the right, and then left, and the furthest door on the right, on the corner. It was beautiful place, really, more than I could ever anticipate. I expected it to be oldy-woldy with boring paintings but it looked incredible.

"Now, clean yourself up. I'll be back in half an hour," Kieran told me as I went into my room.

Now this is not what I expected my room in Buckingham Palace to look like – it was extremely minimalistic and stylish. The floors of the living area were all in pale wood, with a black two seater sofa and a snuggle chair – a large circular chair with seat for two and I immediately decided that was my favourite chair. It was around a decent sized TV, and in the corner I could see a desk. The room next to the TV was a nice sized bathroom, with a spacious bathtub and a showerhead over. I came back out and put my backpack down, and went to explore the other room – the bedroom. It was incredible. A four poster queen sized bed and my mouth dropped. Hell, yeah. I could live with this for four months.

Rushing slightly, I stripped down and had a quick shower, rinsing my hair and washing the stickiness off from the car journey, before jumping straight out and putting my make up on. I never wear much – just some foundation and powder and mascara - but I felt like I would need it now over any other day. I dried my hair, brushing it down like I normally do before throwing on my knee length black dress that I wore for my graduation as there was a knock at the door.

"Miss Williams?" I heard Kieran say outside and I ran forward to the door, opening it. "You good to go?"

"Yeah," I whispered, suddenly nervous.

"It seems like Queen Caroline will be on her own as both Prince's are busy tonight as well," Kieran told me, leading me down the hallway as I kept looking around.

"I'm just going to drop you off at the door, and knock and wait for her Majesty to open the door, and remember your formalities." I got told in a hushed whisper by Kieran. "Good luck, Grace,"


	4. Chapter 4

**Four**

I stood awkwardly outside as I watched Kieran scutter back down the hallway in his suit, before he turned around and gave me a thumbs up. For another moment, I hovered around before knocking on the door. There was an awkward silence for a moment before the door opened.

"Grace?" Queen Caroline asked me, both of us slightly awkward. "Do come in," She said and I edged in as she shut the door.

Shit. I forgot to curtsey

I quickly did the cute bow that Michael told me to do and the Queen just smiled slightly at me, before coming up to me and embarrassing me fully. I hesitated slightly before hugging her back. Well, this is not etiquette. The Queen was in her late fifties, but looked good for her age. She had greying blonde hair and blue eyes which shone and an average height of five foot seven which made me feel extremely small in comparison to her.

"Don't worry about the curtsey, Grace,' the Queen told me. "Sit down, my love, sit down!"

I awkward sat down on the edge of the sea that the Queen had gestured to me and she sat opposite the table and grinned at me. What had got into the Queen? She quite often is known for being a brick wall and showing no emotion but she was grinning at me like a child.

"I can tell you're confused, Grace, do you want an explanation?" She asked and I frowned. What has happening? I don't like this.

"We go way back, Grace. Well, my and your Dad go well back. He used to work in the Palace when he first got his job at M.I.5 and before he met your mother. Quite often he came back here during the day to work with us even after your mother. When your brother was born, he brought Jack here and when you were born you came here as well. To protect you, they weren't allowed to tell you their jobs and of course they couldn't bring you back here, but we always saw photos of you two growing up." My mouth dropped. How did my Dad know the Royal family so well that I was treated like family. "We had updates, photos sent to us and as much as we begged as you both got older to at least come to State Dinners or Garden parties but it was too risky for your sake. After their deaths," Queen Caroline teared up looking away from me, "It tore us apart, they were like our brother and sister, even the boys treated them like family, and we tried to get in contact with you but we couldn't. So when we saw your name on the list, we flew at the opportunity,"

"Thank you, your Majesty, I guess"

"However, one rule Grace. You drop all formalities to me, Edward and the boys when we're in private. It's not normal. You're family to us, okay? Also, just call me Caroline and I will just call you Grace,"

"This is a bit too weird for me," I muttered.

"I understand, it's been a lot for you to take in especially all in a day." Caroline told me. "Congratulations on your degree, though, Grace."

"Thanks,"

"You could do miracles to my youngest son. A lost effort, he is, I wish he went to university but he joined the army the second he could, fought for his country and now he's come back and his father won't let him leave again until he find himself a wife," She shook her head but I chose not to comment. "You look so much like your mother,"

"I get that a lot,"

"It's uncanny,"

I took it as a compliment because I always thought my mother was beautiful. There was a knock at the door and it made me jump and Caroline frowned.

"Who is it?" She called.

"Your favourite son," The voice called back and it was a tone like chocolate. It was extremely British and articulated, though.

"Excuse him," Caroline said to me before getting up and walking over to the door. "Luke, you're meant to be at that charity event Marc was holding,"

"Marc's boring, big tit brownie lanky girls are also boring," I heard Luke say standing in the door. "You busy, Mum?"

"Funny you should say that. You remember Amelia and Jonathon's two kids, Grace and Jack?" Caroline said.

"Jack the one who was always a bit wild but really camp too, and Grace the super hot one with the cutest smile ever? Sure, I remember them. Never met them, but I remember them," Luke said walking into the room before seeing me and doing a double take, before freezing with a small grin on his face as he looked at me.

"Well, yeah, I have the super hot one with the cute smile for tea," Caroline said. "Apologise for him,"

"Grace, it's nice to finally meet you after twenty years," Luke came over and sat on the chair next to me, shaking my hand. Luke, to put it nicely, was delicious. He had fluffy blonde hair and a mixture of his parents' eyes; a wonderful blue green colour that shone. "Er, you're freezing," Luke said, walking over to the corner and picking up a hoody and wrapping it around my shoulders, gently sitting down with his hand on my back.

"You too," I muttered. "Nice to meet you, you're not freezing," I muttered, cringing to myself.

"Why exactly are you here?" Luke asked me.

"Luke!" Caroline raised his voice. "You know what your father and I told you yesterday?"

"Oh," He said, looking over at me with slight curiosity in his eyes. "Anyway, I just came to tell you I was back from Marc's stupid event about trees or whatever it was," Luke said, "I'll see you around, Grace," He said to me before he walked out the room.

"Sorry about him, he's a bit... rogue at the moment. He's not happy his father is trying to find a suitor for him. He doesn't want to marry someone because they're Royal. He wants to find someone he truly loves, but his Father doesn't understand,"

"I get it, though, it must suck,"

"Yeah, he still believes in Soulfinder's too,"

"You're all Savants?" I asked in slight shock.

"Of course Grace, like you are too." Caroline told me. "Luke still believes in the whole Soulfinder thing, and I wish I still could but it seems so superficial as you get older, but for Luke more than anything else, I pray that he find his girl before his father force him to marry someone else. He'll never be happy, it won't be good for him or the Princess he'll be forced to marry either, he's got anger issues,"

"Wouldn't that be cruel to force marriage upon Luke, though, and it wouldn't be good for public image either,"

"Edward doesn't see it that way. He wants Luke married to another countries Princess to help trade and unite countries like the old days,"

"Why don't you try and find one of those Soulseekers?"

"It's too risky, and we only have a month or two before Luke's going to be traded off,"

"What about Theodore?" I asked, sitting cross legged. Caroline looked at me.

"Theo, and for now he's pretty much out of harm way, he has a girlfriend even though she's probably temporary. It's just my little Luke," Caroline sighed. "I want to protect him, he's always been my little boy, but his Father doesn't understand. I've tried to talk to him but he doesn't get it,"

"I can try talking to him?"

"I can't make you do that, Grace,"

"I can try, I'm not promising miracles but I'll talk to him the next time I see him,"

"Thank you, sweetheart... you look shattered, Grace, do you want to bed? I can always find you tomorrow. We're meant to discuss your work anyway tomorrow. That's an order, actually, head to bed." Caroline said.

"Thanks," I hesitated.

"Just Caroline," She said softly.

"Thanks Caroline,"

"Sleep well Grace,"

Sleep that night didn't come well to me. I lay awake for hours until I could lay no more. At half one in the morning, pissed off and restless, I jumped up and walked over to the snuggle chair, jumping on it and finding my book I hid under a pillow. I had barely flicked to the page before I heard a knock at the door that made me shit myself. Everyone in this place is asleep – who could it be?

I quickly jumped up and ran over to the door, my heart in my mouth as I opened the door.

"It's only me, Grace, calm down," I heard Luke say on the other side of the room and I quickly opened the door letting him in as I rolled my eyes.

"You could have done that without scaring the shit out of me!" I hissed at him as he grinned at me.

"That would have been no fun,"

"You here for your hoody?" I asked him, walking over to where I left his jumper on my chair – it was pretty obvious it was his, I doubt his older brother who has never been seen outside a suit before would have hooded jumpers laying around.

"You can keep it, Grace, you'd wear it more than I would," He said softly and I blushed. It was almost like he knew that I have a soft spot for jumpers. And the fact I had gone to bed in his hoody and had taken it off as I got up.

"Why are you here at half one, Luke?" I asked him, crossing my arms over my vest top when I realised I was in nothing more than a thin vest and Disney print pyjama bottoms. And no bra. Well, this is awkward.

"You don't call me Highness or whatever," He pointed out. Crap.

"Did you want me too?"

"Of course not, Grace, it would be stupid, it's just nice someone takes the initiative not to call me that, it annoys me." He came up to me to the point it was weirdly close and looked down at me slightly. "I came to apologise for what happened earlier. I feel incurably bad - I should have thought before I spoke. I shouldn't have called you super hot or say you had a cute smile, some girls don't like that. But, whilst saying that, you are extremely beautiful." He said and I blushed slightly, "and there's that smile,"

"Luke, why are you here?" I whispered to him trying to ignore the look he was giving me. Yeah, he was beautiful. This wasn't fair.

"You're a Savant," He simply whispered.

"So are you,"

"Glad we established that," He joked, his hand wrapping around my waist gently. Not pulling me in, but just that pressure was enough to take my breath away. He leaned forward slightly "And you're the same age as me, there's only two weeks between our birth dates. I checked earlier,"

"We're not discussing this at half one in the morning, sunshine," I tried to pull away but his gaze kept me there.

"Aren't we? This is a perfect time." He whispered softly to me, leaning down to whisper into my ear. I could feel the heat from his breath and his lips against my cheek.

"It's not," I muttered, but being rapidly drawn into him. I looked into his eyes which were ice blue in the dark light of my living room.

"Isn't it?" He replied before kissing me, pulling my waist into him and everything exploded.

We were no longer in a dimly lit room but somewhere incredibly bright, on our own with no pressure from the world. All the barriers that both of us held melted away and remoulded to keep us two together, and any future we had felt like they were blown to smithereens, every second we spent was laying down new foundations.

I had barely noticed when Luke's hand slipped up my shirt, gently putting his hand on my bare skin of my back as he continued to kiss me. I moaned slightly, before getting completely embarrassed but Luke didn't seem to have noticed, too busy lifting my shirt up. My hands busied themselves running around the hem of his joggers he got changed into and before long, Luke had picked me up with my legs around his waist as he carried me to my bedroom, dumping me down on the bed like I weighted nothing. He broke the kiss for a second, frowning, before he kissed me again. Without even thinking about it, or any repercussions this could have, I lifted up Luke's shirt breaking the kiss momentarily to pull it off and chuck it on the floor.

"Grace, are you sure?" He whispered, hands holding my vest top.

"Yeah," I muttered. Hell yeah I was sure.

He ripped the vest top off me at the speed of light, kissing my neck as he chucked it onto the floor, before working down. And the rest was history.


	5. Chapter 5

**Five**

I woke up the next morning at the shrill of a bell in my room. Frowning, I jumped up slightly and looked around the room to see nothing suspicious before I looked at the clock. Half six in the morning. Haha, nope. Technically, I'm not a cleaner but an M.I.5 agent; therefore I am not going outside or even ever waking up at this time in the morning.

"It's the worker alarm, I'll get it turned off for you," I heard someone say softly beside me and my eyes widened before I turned around. Luke was laying on the right side of the bed, his arm across my side where I must have sat up and he frowned at me as I looked at him in shock. The memories from last night returned and it was just confirmed as my clothes were still haphazardly across the floor. I self consciously hugged the duvet to my chest. This is awkward. Luke gently put his hand on my back, running his fingers up and down my spine and I shivered. Yeah, I could get used to this. But I reminded myself he was the Prince of England, he was third in line to the throne and he was out of my league it was impossible to imagine.

"I don't care if I'm Prince, who cares, you're beautiful and I really like you, Grace, now lay back down," Luke whispered to me before pulling me back down into the bed and into his arm. He rolled over to look at me, with one arm under me, bending to play with my hair and the other one on my back. "It's illegal to be this beautiful,"

"What does that even mean," I whispered, looking into his eyes. He just shook his head slightly, before brushing a stand of hair from my face.

 _You know what I'm on about,_

My heart exploded as I grinned at him. Soulfinder. He was my Soulfinder. My Soulfinder was a Prince, and I suddenly wondered if my mother knew as she always told me my Soulfinder would be my own Prince but I never thought she meant it _literally._ Luke grinned down at me; pulling me in closer to him and covering me back up with the duvet.

"I had hoped you were my Soulfinder," Luke whispered to me, kissing the tip of my nose. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"You were in the army, probably serving for your country," I told him, smiling softly.

"I'd need to do more tours to even deserve this with you, Grace,"

"Please don't." I whispered before rolling back into his chest and he hugged me closer, kissing the top of my head. I don't want Luke to get hurt and we've known we're Soulfinder's for about six seconds.

"We'll discuss this when it's relevant Grace. I'm here for a while at least and I'm not leaving you during that time at all," Luke said, before grinning at me. "Yeah, I'm not going anywhere," He said before kissing me. This time, I was the one to deepen the kiss, and I felt Luke's hands which were exploring my skin tightening, his touch turning more like gropes as he moaned. In the spur on the moment, I climbed on top of him, not breaking the kiss at all. I could feel his grin, before the night repeated itself.

Luke had left the room half an hour before we were all due to go down to breakfast together, pausing at the door to give me a goodbye kiss. He hesitated on the door, like he never wanted to leave me out of fear I wouldn't come back. After he left, I collapsed back into my snuggle chair with an unbearable grin. I felt incredibly happy as I grinned to myself. He was my Soulfinder. He was the person I was meant to grow old with, get married and have seven children with. The idea normally horrifies me but today it brought me warmth and happiness. I realised a bit too soon that I was falling in love extremely quickly with Luke. But he was just so... so nice with me. He was incredibly gentle, and even in the way he holds me at night or after we done, you know, it was so incredibly tender like he never wanted to hurt me. Whilst I felt ashamed that we had done naughty stuff so early on, it felt so right. Being that closed to Luke felt right, like it was always meant to be and even now, when he was probably less than fifty meters away from me, it felt like there were elastic bands around my diaphragm which made it hard for me to breathe without him here.

Needing to talk to someone about my feelings, I called up my brother.

"Grace! How is it going?" Jack asked on the phone.

"I found my Soulfinder," I whispered softly.

"No! Who?" He asked and I could tell he was happy for me.

"Luke," I whispered and he paused for a second.

"Luke a cleaner guy," He asked, knowing it wouldn't be logical to think the truth.

"Luke, the Prince of England,"

"Are you sure, Grace?" Jack asked me and I knew he didn't believe me.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure Jack. They, er, they know Mum and Dad. You know what they're real jobs were now; they used to work in the Palace for security. And now, well, they used to always see pictures of us growing up and they knew me when I came here. We talked telepathically, it's for certain."

"I need to speak to him, pass me over,"

"He's not here you idiot, I wouldn't be talking if he's here would I," I hissed.

"Grace, I believe you about Luke, but tonight at the Palace they're holding a ball, and it's to try and find Luke a suitor, someone of Royalty. People are coming from all over the EU with their children to partner up with Prince Luke. I believe you, well no I don't until I see it, but I don't think you'll be able to stop this event and it will hurt you, Grace, whenever someone talks to Markie in a flirty way I get so down and I can't see you like that again,"

I sighed and I realised it was true – this event was planned for months. It was massive gossip, knowing that Luke was single and the King wanted him married off and having his own children before he turned twenty five. Of course, from an outside, it seemed stupid to force him to marry someone just because they were royal, but now from the inside it seemed ludicrous. Tonight was meant to be the night he would walk away with a potential bride to be over his arm. I don't think anyone expected him to be genetically hitched with a nobody.

"I hope it'll be okay," I whispered.

"I hope it will too, but if you need me, call me," Jack called and I knew he was getting ready for work.

"Thank you, Jack," I muttered.

"Anything for you, Gracie, I love you,"

"I love you too, bye," I hung up, throwing my phone on the sofa and frowned. This would be tricky, that ball that was going to take place today. Would Luke continue to look even after the discovery of his Soulfinder? Would he even care about me next to girls who are raised to be beautiful? I doubt it – I highly doubt it. I was nothing in comparison to these Princesses' and I doubt the whole Soulfinder thing will take his gaze away from me to all the other beauties that will come from Spain, or Germany, or the Netherlands.

It came to eight in the morning, and I got up and pulled on a pair of jeans and a thin grey shirt, before heading down to the room Caroline and I were in last night. Somewhere along the way, Luke slipped in behind me.

 _I like this view._ Luke told me and I pulled my shirt down to cover my bum.

 _Stop that,_

 _Why? As long as that view stays to me and no one else then we will be fine._

 _Luke, my brother told me about this Ball tonight,_ I told him and it went silent for a few seconds.

 _Grace, nothing will happen tonight. It's too late to cancel but you're my girl. You are my priority and you're the girl eventually I will want to marry. You are my world now, Grace, and there is no question about that. I want you as my girlfriend, then my fiancee, my wife and the mother of my children when the time comes. Grace, I want you to be my girlfriend. Please._

 _Was that a question?_ I asked confused and I hear a beautiful laugh behind me from Luke.

 _Yup._

 _You didn't phrase that too well, but of course I will._

 _And you answered that like I ask if you want milk in your tea. But there we go – my beautiful girlfriend. Nothing will change this, Grace, and nothing will change the way I feel about you._

 _Don't tell your parents about me just yet._

 _You sure?_

 _That'll be adding petrol to a fire. Just... leave it for a while._ I told him and he sighed.

 _If you wish._

The line went silent as Luke jogged up and overtook me slightly, winking at me in the process. He stood at the door, looking at me smiling softly before he walked into the room.

"Mother, Father, my whore of a brother," Luke said as a way of greeting his family and my jaw dropped. I would never think of saying something in front of my family – until they died. My heart sunk at that thought. Often I did that, and the memory that my parents were no longer alive got to me each time. Luke, who's gift must be to read thoughts, looked behind at me with an apologetic look on his face. "I found a Grace standing outside,"

"Grace, do come in my girl, sit down," the King said to me like we had been besties our entire life and he was waiting for me to fill him in on the latest season of Orange is the New Black rather than he was the King of bloody England. Unsure what to do, I just stood in the door frozen. Luke, noticing my hesitation, walked back over to me and pulled me into the room and stopped me in front of a chair.

"She's, er, she's finding this all extremely weird," Luke testified for me, sitting next to me.

"I don't blame you, Grace, it's been a lot to take in over the last few days and we understand fully. However, we are extremely thankful for what your parents had done for us in their lives, and we are extremely thankful for you being here with us as well. And at such a gracious time within the Palace – the ball tonight when hopefully we'll see Luke find his future wife!" Edward exclaimed and whilst it was all meant in the best sense, I couldn't help the dreading feeling. Luke cleared his throat beside me, giving me a side glance.

"I was thinking about that, Father, and I don't think that twenty is a good age for marriage or children," Luke simply said and I was grateful for him not revealing the whole Soulfinder aspect between us – or what had happened whilst we were meant to be asleep. Twice. Edward simply frowned at his youngest son. Theo, who was sitting on the other side of Luke, also looked at him with a small frown.

"We have planned this Ball for months, Luke, royals are coming from all over the Globe," Edward told him.

"I appreciate that, and the effort that has gone into the cause, and I will still go and enjoy the nights but I would be going to see people as we would at any Ball or social event, and not a giant blind date to try and get me hitched," Luke argued back.

"These are some of the finest ladies you could imagine,"

"I'm sure they'll all look beautiful and their personalities will be as shined and as fake as ever before,"

"Luke, this is tradition,"

"I don't give two hoots about tradition, Father, I don't think you understand. I'm not going to marry someone off because it's good for the country. I refuse to stay with someone for the rest of my life just because they had a pretty pink dress on tonight,"

"Luke!"

"No, Father, this conversation is happening. I will go tonight, I will meet and greet and pretend to be interesting, but no one will be getting my phone number tonight," Luke simply said ending the conversation there. I could tell though that the King would have continued the conversations into the early morning if I wasn't in the room. The Queen looked at me with sadness and with guilt in her eyes, the King looked awkward and Luke was pissed off to a whole new realm.

"Now that's discussed how are you Grace?" Luke's older brother, Theo, asked me. He was already in smart trousers and a button-up shirt, leaving the top button done up. "Congratulations, may I say, on your degree."

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Such a beautiful subject, what did you do your final dissertation on?"

"Er, the role of psychology in relation to injuries, mainly the addition of psychosympathic injuries to those in trauma-related injuries such as car crashes, war zones..." I said and I saw Luke's jaw strain slightly as he avoided eye contact.

"Luke here was shot in the leg when he was in Afghanistan on his last tour and he was flown back. It's a sensitive subject, war, in this household," Theo explained to me.

"I'm sorry," I told Luke and he just shrugged.

 _You weren't to know,_

 _I could have bloody guessed, Luke!_ I protested back.

"Of course, Grace you are invited this Luke's Ball this evening, but it is black tie and I assume you didn't bring anything fancy in your suitcase," Caroline went on to explain as the silence dragged out for quite a while. She looked across at Luke, who was glaring at his mug of coffee in front of him. "So you can have the day off, go find a nice little boutique"

"Thank you," I replied.

"I need to go and find something to wear tonight as well," Luke simply said.

"We tailored a suit for you," the King replied back.

"You would have if I attended and didn't send back the suit last night," Luke shrugged with arm.

"Luke! You are a Prince not a spoilt four year old,"

"What harm is it? I'll just go with Grace and pick up a suit from Moss Bros or something, I don't care what they say in the papers tomorrow morning, I'm sure this little Princess won't mind me crashing her shopping spree," Luke said bitterly.

 _My little Princess,_ Luke then whispered telepathically to me as it sent shivers down my spine. He was doing the whole sulking act just to make a show, when really he knew how to react and he was playing his cards right.

"Grace, would you be willing to try and find Luke something to wear?" Theo asked me nicely as both of his parents looked ready to throttle him. "You can go wherever you'd like – somewhere near where you grew up, perhaps, and treat yourself to a nice dress on me too,"

"Sure," I replied back shrugging.

"We're talking about this later, Luke," The King said to him as Luke stood up, shrugging.

"No we're not," And with that Luke walked out of the room. It was incredibly awkward for another five or ten minutes or perhaps it was for only a few seconds, before someone finally cleared their voice.

"Sorry, Grace, do you mind if we have some family time," The King asked me softly and I got up.

"Absolutely not," I replied back. I willingly left.

"We'll send breakfast to your room, apologies again,"

I walked out, incredibly thankful for the break but dreading what his parents will say when they find out the person Luke wants to be with is shitty old me.


	6. Chapter 6

**Six**

Still debating the event that happened at breakfast, I got changed in my room in silence. What Luke had done was brave and wasn't for me – he just didn't to marry some random girl because of their Royal status. I sighed – he said he wanted me because I was his Soulfinder. That was all genetics. This whole thing was confusing and I was certain that it would work itself out when Luke realises I'm not worth this whole thing. He was the Prince, and I was just another girl from the shelf. Realising this, I got up and grabbed my favourite pair of skinny jeans that had started to go a bit saggy and had small folds in them, and a plain grey shirt. Nothing spectacular and nothing important. They were the uniform that had been given to me, but they did nothing for me. Perhaps he will see this and understand?

"Grace?" I heard Luke say, knocking on the door. I got up and opened it, leaving it open as he walked back in. He simply looked at me before smiling. "You're beautiful," He whispered coming up to me.

"You ready to go?" I asked, attempting to avoid the subject but he just frowned at me.

"Grace, what's wrong?" Luke asked and I had noticed he was in just a pair of jeans and a loose shirt and a pair of Ray-bans.

"Nothing," I protested. He raised an eyebrow. "Nothing is the matter," I turned around, pulling out my canvas shoes and slipping them on. When speaking to Kieran who obviously had overhead the plans he told me to go posed as security, wearing the black leggings or jeans and the dark grey shirt and jumper that he had given me and told me not to get him recognised, as he will be in disguise. We were to share anything we had, which included asking for corner seats in a restaurant and standing outside dressing rooms. But the good thing was even Kieran told me I was allowed to have fun and seen joking around with him as it'll be good for his image.

"Grace, you're a crap liar," Luke told me.

"Your parents are going to hate me when they find out, like, full on hate me." I told him and he looked at me – was that sadness in his eyes?

"They might hate the idea, but they love you," Luke told me.

"No, they'll hate me because I'm not Royal or going to improve trade, social standards or whatever," I crossed my arms across my chest incredibly annoyed and turned away from him. "It's all about your image,"

"I'll denounce my status then, if they won't allow it. That'll be beautiful for their image," Luke told me and I shook my head.

"You wouldn't do that for me," I simply said.

"Yes, I would," He said, coming up behind me and hugging me. "You know, I've waited God knows how long for you, started looking for you, this woman who could see futures told me you were going through wars so even when I was in Afghanistan, I was looking out for you. I had no idea that she meant..." I flinched and he hugged me tighter. He meant what happened to my parents. "And then when I was about to give up, here you are, my Princess," He muttered as he kissed my cheek softly. "I waited twenty years for this; I'm not giving you up at the first hurdle,"

"Fine," I sighed before pushing my head back into his chest.

"Where are we going? Hopefully somewhere far away," Luke sighed as he let go, walking over to my bookcase to look at my laptop I left open, trying to find some good shopping places that were outside of London. Kieran had told me to take him outside of London somewhere quiet, where the chances of him being recognised would be diminished. I checked the news online, and sure enough the main headline was about "Luke's Royal Ball" tonight and his preparations in the Palace so they wouldn't think he would be out and especially not far away.

"Windsor, perhaps," I said and he frowned at me and I realised exactly what I said. Windsor castle was his second home. God damn. "Not Windsor then,"

"What about this Camberley pace," Luke asked.

"Yeah, it's a nice place, a few places for suits," I told him.

"And dresses? For you?"

"They have a few stores," I muttered. "New Look..." I continued.

"No, its black tie Princess, there's a few bridal shops," He told me softly and turned around to see me frowning. "They do ballroom gowns, like bridesmaid dresses, we'll find you one," Luke said. "And then everyone will see how beautiful you are,"

Luke came up to me and hugging me around the waist resting his chin against my head. There was a sharp knock at the door and I jumped. We hesitated, and the knocking persistence.

"Grace, it's just me," Theo said through the door and I looked at Luke.

"He doesn't know I'm here, I could get you in big trouble if he sees me." Luke whispered to me. "what do we do?"

"Hide then," I muttered gesturing to the other room, and he nodded, nipping into the other room, closing the door quietly behind him as I made my way to the main door. I opened it, pretending to not know who it is.

"Oh, Theo," I said.

"Sorry, did I startle you?" Theo said curiously before coming into my room. I closed the door.

"Er yeah, I didn't hear you knock," I muttered, adjusting the strap of my shirt.

"Really, I've just come to apologise about my brother, he doesn't mean to be an asshole, it's unlike him to be like this around us and especially around new people like yourself," Theo explained, standing on the rug in my room. He had already scanned the room. How awkward – his brother was next door. "He's struggling a bit at the moment,"

"Your Mother mentioned to me," I added.

"Yeah, realistically he needs to start looking about settling down, his public image isn't very solid, and he still believes in Soulfinder's and he doesn't want to lose hope,"

"Don't you believe in Soulfinder's?" I asked.

"They're just fairytales, Grace, and they're holding my brother back. We hoped you would be able to speak to him about it. Even if he did find his Soulfinder, the chances of her being of royal blood would be so small the odds are next to none,"

"Why does she have to be Royal?" I asked

"Grace, Luke is the Prince of England, he can't just marry some random girl just because of their link., as wonderful as it would be," Theo whispered to me and I looked away, pretending to look in my bag but instead trying to blink away my tears. "I don't think father would welcome the girl into our family if she's not the best for him,"

"That's a bit unfair though, isn't it?" I bit back.

"Completely unfair, but it's the way father sees it. There's been some tension between father and Luke recently, I'm sure you've noticed. Luke came back from Afghanistan a few months previous when he was shot in the leg. Luke promised father he wouldn't be hurt and he came back with a massive attitude and an injury. Father put his foot down and told him he would not allow back into the armed forces if he didn't find someone to potentially marry, and he's been like this ever since," Theo sighed. "It's not fair on him, but I can see both sides. He seems nicer around you than many others, but I still have to apologise for his irate behaviour,"

"I understand," I added through gritted teeth.

"I know Mother asked you to talk to him, anything?"

"I haven't spoken to him in private yet," I lied. We had done quite a bit in private and none of which I think his brother would like to hear.

"Oh, well today you should have time?" Theo asked me and I shrugged.

"Perhaps,"

"Well, if you do, let me know what he says," Theo said. "We all still love him but I don't think he sees that he doesn't really have a choice. Even if his Soulfinder just rolls up at his feet there's no way to escape what he will have to go through. Anyway..."

Theo continued to talk, handing me a bank card and talking about general security but I felt so broken. His family will hate me so much when they find out about the link between me and their youngest son who was destined to other girls of Royalty. They would send me home, Luke would be in a forced marriage, and we would never be together. How would I ever explain this to Mycelia? She would flip knowing I was here. Of course, I could tell her now I had accepted residence and she was most likely wondering why her student debts had been paid off. I would phone her tonight. Theo then hugged me tight.

"Thanks, Grace, you're a lifesaver. But your dress has to be black or grey to make it look like you're added security," He said before he left the room and I crumpled onto the sofa.

"What a dick," Luke said as he came out the room. "Freedom of... Grace?" He came immediately over and crouched on the floor and touched my knee, "Are you... okay?"

I shook my head before I started to cry and he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight. "Oh, baby," He muttered, his breath warm in my hair. "This isn't fair," He protested.

"I told you this wouldn't work," I answered back and he shook his head.

"It will happen, and even if they don't like it I will find ways to make it happen, I'm not giving up on you Grace, you're the best thing to happen to me," Luke told me.

"I haven't even been here a day, how can you say that?" I muttered starting to feel useless as Luke sat down next to me.

"Because, Grace, I have been looking for you everywhere. You mean everything to me and yeah, you've only been here for little under twenty four hours, but it already hurts when you have to leave the room. Just being close like this already makes me feel more at home than this place has in years, and even looking at you is just incredible. You're absolutely stunning, even when you're not dressed up. You are the best thing to ever roll across, Grace, so when I say this will work, I mean it." Luke said, before gently leaning down to kiss me. "You ready to drive me to get you a beautiful dress, Princess?"

I wasn't entirely sure I was keen on the whole Princess nickname, I never liked it in normal conversation between boyfriends and girlfriends, but when it's Royalty calling you the title, it's a bit more ominous. I jumped up.

"I hope your car singing is on point," I said, grabbing my car keys as he grinned at me.

"I knew there was a reason we were Soulfinders," Luke said.

It was a two hour drive from central London to Camberley, a place I was familiar with having grown up a few miles away. In Luke's words, I could see us being Soulfinder's a lot more clearly when we were singing along in the car together, having the time of our lives. I mean, Luke had an imagine for not caring, but when he was happily singing along to Little Mix' "Black Magic" like he didn't care the imagine was a new one. And let's not even mention his skills when the "Mamma Mia" sound track came on. I haven't laughed so hard in a while. There was a slightly awkward moment when we were coming off the M25, the main motorway ring road that goes around the entirety of London, and we were stuck at traffic lights, some girls in the car beside us noticed Luke in the car, happily singing along to "Dancing Queen". We had been told to be in disguises when we were in the town and not in the car, so the girls got the treat of their lives when Luke started to sing to them in their car, pointing and everything.

"Luke, you idiot," I hissed to him as he turned up the radio.

"I'm just singing Gracie," He told me as he looked out the window to the girls who were staring in at our car, noticing Royalty in the front seat in jeans, a grey shirt and sunglasses hanging from the hemline. He suddenly started pointing them in the front and started singing along;

 _Friday night and the lights are low,_

 _Looking out for a place to go,_

I hid my face in embarrassment as he continued to sing along. The girls were laughing, one joining in on the driver's side, and the passenger seat girl was looking in shock.

 _And when you get the chance,_

 _You are the dancing queen,_

 _Young and sweet_

 _Only seventeen,_

 _Dancing queen,_

 _Feel the beat from the tambourine, oh yeah,_

 _You can dance, you can jive,_

 _Having the time of your life, oh,_

 _See that girl, watch that scene,_

 _Digging that dancing Queen,_

I had hoped the lights had gone green, but the red light was still harsh on the car. I had noticed the girl in the back pull out her phone a while back to record the event.

"Luke, she's recording, you're gunna get in so much shit," I hissed at him, hitting his arm.

"Grace, love, it's fine," He said back.

"Me, I'll get in so much shit,"

"I will protect you then," he said so only I could see and I hesitated. "Promise you, Princess," he added back before turning around to continue the duet with the teenage driver.

 _Looking out for another, anyone will do,_

 _You're in the mood for a dance, and when you get the chane_

 _You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen,_

 _Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine,_

 _You can dance, you jive,_

 _Having the time of your life,_

 _See that girl, watch that scene,_

 _Digging that dancing queen,_

 _Digging that dancing queen,_

Thankfully, the lights turned amber and I didn't even hesitate to get a quick getaway, Luke laughing as I pulled away and immediately turned down the radio.

"That was incredible," Luke told me.

"The girl recorded the entire thing!"

"Show's I can have a laugh! Don't worry Grace, it's no reflection on you. You probably wouldn't have been seen, and it's my fault but it'll go viral if it hits media outlets for a good reason." Luke said, putting his hand on my knee.

"So embarrassing," I muttered, pulling off the roundabout to head towards the town centre.

"I bet you're my dancing Queen," He whispered to me.

"Make it's weird when your Highness is saying it," I bit back at him, checking over my shoulder to merge lanes,

"I thought we said not to call me Highness," Luke said anxiously. "It doesn't make us any different," He said and I looked back to him, my mouth dropping. He was lying, right? He knew it made all the difference.

"Oh, it makes you so out my league it's stupid. Your father and brother agree, and I don't believe your mother would be cheering for our relationship either, you get me?" I asked back and he sighed.

"They'll get over their prejudices in time," Luke told me but I wasn't too sure. I don't think they would any time soon, and if they do it'll be ten years or so down the line, so I wouldn't get family approval any time soon.

"Fifty years down the line, they might just understand," I muttered.

"Grace, for you, I don't care if I have to give up my entire family and move into a log cabin in Ireland. For you, I'd get rid of everything I've even known. You've read the papers right? The entire media know I want to be normal, and I banned them for making press articles against me. My father was the one who lifted the ban to get them stop speculating about me and the Palace." Luke told me. I remembered that – they said Luke had become withdrawn, suffering from PTSD, and all other rumours were flying. One magazine attempted to run an article saying Luke had tried to kill himself, which caused the Palace to make a statement, sued the arse of the magazine company, and the ban was lifted. This was only a few months ago, and since then media outlets have been allowed to run free with the articles about him, which showed him as the happy non-caring Prince that, knowing him, he was. Even when the video got out of him singing Mamma Mia to a teenage driver, it'll make him look brilliant. No wonder why he didn't care, and even played it up.

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Maybe not Ireland," he added, thinking about it, "But anywhere in England, yeah," Luke said and I pulled into the opening of the car park. "It's going to take a lot to make you believe how serious I am, so bring it on," He said confidently.


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven**

I had severely underestimated how much Luke didn't care about tonight, and it warmed me a bit inside. He had gone into the first suit shop he could find, waited for me to explain to the company what was happening and gave them the paper brief and silence disclosure to sign, before we were allowed into the changing rooms. Despite the place being a small, local suit shop to tailor for work men, I had expected Luke to protest and go to some better known, designer suit shop. But instead, he happily chatted to the two ladies who were measuring him, quipping jokes and even offering to make tea for them both. The three ladies who worked there; one the store manager and two the sale assistance closed the shop temporarily whist we were in there. Whilst the two young teenagers who most likely worked here on weekend-only whilst in school, Luke and I were in the staff room with the manager. Luke was standing near the kettle, waiting for it to boil as I leant against the wall.

"You looking forward to tonight, your Highness," The woman, Marion, asked Luke.

"You can call me Luke, don't worry," He replied back so sincere I couldn't help but smile slightly. Marion just laughed awkwardly. "I am, but I'm not at the same time. It's lovely catching up with old friends, at one stage everyone who is around my age now were kids together at formal garden parties, it's wonderful to catch up with everyone," Luke said as the kettle clicked it was ready, and he was over pouring water into the five mugs.

"Why aren't you looking forward to it then?" Marion asked before realising who she was speaking too, "If you don't mind me asking, highness, I mean Luke – sorry," She stumbled.

"Don't worry about it, we all do it. Well, you signed the disclosure form, correct?" Luke asked and she nodded. He glaced to me slightly and I just frowned at him. Where was he going with this? "Well, you can't tell anyone this and if you do I'm afraid a hefty fine will be coming your way, and that's not even on my orders," Luke said and Marion nodded.

"Well, I already have a beautiful girl I am seeing and I wouldn't change her for the world, I wouldn't swap her for someone just because their royalty. I wouldn't swap her in the world. I'm fairly confident I love her already despite us not knowing each other, but she's everything to me. Beautiful, funny, smart, all massive turn ons. However, I haven't told anyone about her yet. She's too precious to risk throwing her into the shark cage that is the media around Royals, and she's much to fragile to let my parents know."

I stood watching Luke spin the tale, before he looked up at me.

 _I'm on about you,_ He added telepathically, clearly picking out the wonders of why he was lying to a random stranger from my head and my heart stopped. He thought he was in love with me. Mycelia would kill me for not telling her sooner. Even though – I looked at the clock – I had known him for twenty hours. He properly believed in this whole Soulfinder tale.

"Oh, is it?" Marion asked, nodding towards me and Luke shook his head.

"That, believe it or not, is my first class body guard slash security. She is tiny, but believe me, you wouldn't want to mess with her," Luke lied to cover me.

 _Like I said, you're too precious to throw into the shark cage. Marion won't tell anyone, but there is no way in Hell I am risking you._ He told me.

"Yeah, I'm brutal," I lied back and Luke just grinned at me. Marion smiled back but she didn't believe a word I said. I don't blame her, though; I was just over five foot and little under a hundred pound, with my BMI perilously between underweight and normal. After my parent's death, I found it hard to eat or function at all, and I went from being a good weight to dangerously underweight. I had started eating slightly better at university – but I was doing a normal student diet of pot noodles and too much alcohol. It led me with fluctuation between underweight and what's classed as normal. I didn't want to tell Luke I still struggled with eating because knowing how protective he was, he would sit me down and spoon feed me.

"Er, sorry, Marion, your highness," One of the girls came in; from her name tag she was Felicity – a sixteen year old in her first job with angelic looks. Long, blonde hair tied back neatly and soulful green eyes. In a way, she reminded me of my cousin's Soulfinder. I wasn't close to all of my cousins – there was at least thirty five of us who were all scattered across the globe, and that was just on my Mum's side. My mum's brother, Saul Benedict, were in charge of the Savant Net that I was a part off. His son, my cousin, Zed, had found his Soulfinder a few years back at sixteen. I like her, and she reminds me on the girl in front of me. "I found the suits that would fit,"

"Thanks, Felicity," Luke said, giving her an award winning smile that made her go beetroot red. He got up, waiting by my side for me to move. When I gestured for him to go first, he gently put his hand on my hip and gently pushed me to start walking in a gentle manner.

 _I enjoy the view from back here,_

 _Luke!_

 _What, they can't hear us. It's a perfect view,_ He muttered to me telepathically as I jogged up the stairs to the top floor, the floor they used as a changing room. The two sales assistance stood around giggling. The suits were all hanging up.

"These are all the ones that would fit your measurements, all are inclusive with any of those shirts on the table, we'll leave you to get changed," The other girl, Amber, told Luke before bowing slightly, walking out of the room with Felicity, closing the door.

"Which one do you like," Luke came up to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and rocking me slightly.

"Why does it matter which one I like? You're wearing it," I asked him and he frowned at me.

"Because, Grace, you're the one I'm trying to impress. I can tell you're lagging behind, but it's fine. We can take all the time in the world. I want this to be right, and if it takes you longer to understand how much I like you, then take as long as you need," Luke whispered to me, kissing the back of my shoulder.

"Look, maybe you should consider someone who is a Princess," I muttered.

"You are my Princess," Luke said, letting go of my waist to survey the shirt that were on the table, folded neatly.

"That's not what I meant," I sighed. "It would just be easier if you forgot about me," I said and I regretted it. Being with Luke felt so natural now that I couldn't ever imagine just wandering around without him no more. Also, I was at the palace for easily the next four months, and if he was with someone else watching that every day would kill me inside, but it would be a hell of a lot easier for him

"Yeah, Grace, it would be easier for me, however, it's you who I like, and it's you who I want to spend forever with." Luke said, coming back over and hugging me tight. "I'll give you all the time you need for me to realise how serious I am,"

"Hmm..." I muttered, as he bent down and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, as his hands went around my waist. He deepened the kiss before suddenly picking me up, and I wrapped my legs around his hips as he pushed me into the wall. I was the one who broke the kiss.

"We're in public," I muttered to him as she looked at me, his eyes shining.

"So?" He teased.

"Luke!"

"Fine, fine, god you're so lightweight," He said, dropping me down on the floor. "Grace, this is real, between us, this is what I want," He muttered. "Yeah, it might be tedious for a while with my parents and Theo, but we'll work this out."

"Get changed," I said, nodding to the suits that were hung up. Luke quickly bent down and kissed me.

"Yes, ma'am," Luke said, stripping off his shirt revealing toned muscles, an a tanned chest. I looked away, trying to keep myself calm. "Why are you turning away, you saw more than this yesterday," He asked.

"Not the reason I'm looking away,"

I could feel him touching my mind, trying to find the reason.

 _Oh,_ Luke whispered to me telepathically. _Oh, really?_

 _You need to learn to behave,_ I told him, finding the chair in the corner as walked over and sat own, folding my legs under myself. Luke smiled at me, before taking off his shoes and his jeans. He walked over to his favourite suit, one he settled on the second he saw it, and it was my favourite too. A medium shade of Navy, very tight fitting, including the trousers that fitted perfectly over a perky bum. I picked out a white shirt, chucking it to him telekinetically to him as he one it up, throwing on a grey waistcoat, and the blazer.

"Er, wow," I said as I looked back up. He looked like a model, and put his hand in his trouser pocket. "Tie?" I asked. He picked it up and wrapped it around his neck.

"I can't," He gestured to the tie.

"Oh," I tried not to laugh, "Come here then," I got up as Luke came towards me. I quickly tied his tie for him, tucking the straps under the shirt, the fat it hanging own.

"How do I look?" He asked me.

"Incredible, you'd be winning all the girls over tonight, you'll end up getting calls for the next seven years," I said and he grinned at me.

"And will I win over you?" Luke said.

"Depends how you play your cards, but based on looks, yeah," I said and he hugged me, kissing my forehead.

"That's what I wanted to hear," He muttered to me.

We were in Camberley town centre for a few more hours. We had found a dress shop for me, and I bought the first one I could find in grey – Luke insisted the grey had to match part of his suit, and there were folded into a bag which I was carrying around with me. After that, we had gone to Primark to pick up a few bits of clothing primarily for me to lounge around in, before we went to Nando's.

"Can't believe you've never had a Nando's," I said in shock.

"I'm barely allowed out; it's like constantly being on house arrest," He said, sitting in the corner of the booth, his back to the door and away from the window like I had been told to do.

"I'll go order," I said, taking his menu too before walking to the counter which was in front of the tills. I put in our order, taking our empty glasses to the fizzy drink dispenser.

 _What drink did you want again?_ I asked him.

 _Whatever you're having,_ he told me back and I smiled slightly.

"Have you seen in the corner?" A girl asked beside me to her friend. "Prince Luke is in the corner,"

"Are you sure?" the friend asked back.

"Look,"

"Oh god, he looks incredible!" The friend said. "Is he alone? Surely there has to be security somewhere?"

"Exactly, I'm not seeing any burly, muscle men in here, " The second girl said and I shimmied past.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Don't worry," The friend replied to me as I went back over and climbed into the curved booth, leaving enough distance between myself and him so the girls wouldn't suspect anything.

"Thanks," Luke said, taking his Coke. "Why are you... hesitant?"

"The girls at the desk, they recognised you," I said.

"So?"

"So, they're watching you," I hissed, taking a sip of my Coke. He smiled softly, knocking my knee under the table. "You're scared of someone finding out, aren't you?"

"I know your family will hate me,"

"Grace, come on," Luke muttered leaning back in his chair annoyed and I immediately shut up. I knitted my fingers together and rested them in my lap as my shoulders curled forward. I refused to make eye contact with him, but I knew he was staring at me. I brought my legs up to my chest, so the bottoms of my knees were against the table. Luke watched me before sighing, shaking his head but remained quiet.

The drive home was in utter silence too – well I say utter silence. Luke kept trying to dig it out of me why I was sulking with him but I didn't really tell him. I know it was stupid, but he just didn't understand that we may as well be on different planets. He had grown up being royalty, had the rules driven into him from birth (even though he did go on to break the majority of those rules) and he also forgot his parents had the same rules applied to them. However, whilst Luke broke the rules and didn't care, his parents especially his father were very strict with them. If he wanted to keep everything he knew at the moment, he would have to give up me. It upset me because I really did like Luke and I was starting to come around on him – the side that the media portrays of this wild lad wasn't true. He was very calm and caring, but I was doing it to protect him.

Or was I? Was I just doing it out of my own greed because I didn't want to argue with anyone – which included people who thought so highly of my parents?

I took the time at a red light to look over at Luke, who was sitting in the passenger seat sulking at me, one of his arms crossed across his chest and the other holding his phone. He pouted slightly in annoyance and didn't seem to even notice me looking at him but it made my heart falter. Was I doing all of this to protect him like I kept saying I was – or was I doing all this to protect myself? He was worth a fight, yes, but was I doing this to take the easy route out?


	8. Chapter 8

**Eight**

I pulled into the delivery bay under the palace and into my designated spot. I hadn't even taken the car out of gear before Luke had opened the door, undoing his seat belt in the process. My mouth dropped open in shock as he just got out, slamming the door. He caught it last second, bent down into the car to speak.

"Thanks for the lift," he sighed to me.

"Lift?" I said back to him.

"Well, yeah, if you're going by what my parents say, they said you're just giving me a lift. So, thank you for the lift, Grace," Luke said, standing back up and slammed the door closed again. I winced at the noise and watched him walk across the car park and into the locked staircase and I sat in the car in shock.

Why I was sad I didn't know – I told him several times to forget me but it felt like I was being torn apart by it which in itself was stupid. It felt like someone had shoved a dagger in my diaphragm and I was unable to breathe. I curled up into the driver's seat and just took a few deep breathes trying to still my tears.

I jumped when there was a knock on the car door. Kieran was beside the door, in his suit. I unlocked the door and climbed out. Kieran looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"You okay there, Miss Williams?" Kieran asked me. "You look like you've been crying, and you were curled over,"

"Just... lady things," I lied and he looked uncomfortable as he rubbed his hand on trousers.

"Er, okay then." Kieran said. "Got His Royal Highness' suit?"

"Yes, it's in the boot of the car," I said.

"And your dress, Miss, it's in there too?" Kieran asked me and I nodded "Good. So in regards to your status, we don't want you to be a maid anymore. We never realised your friendship with the Monarch, so we're changing your role officially to security. Of course, we don't expect you to do the security workload, you're here for your own brief."

"I believe you mentioned this before, sir,"

"I believe I have too, however, it's hard to expect such an event like a spontaneous friendship between yourself and the Prince," Kieran said and I looked over at him in shock – what was he suggesting?

"We haven't done anything, sir, we're just... acquaintances," I told him and he nodded.

"I didn't think you two had done anything, Grace, based on his past of super models and a-list celebrities I don't think you'd be filling the bill, however if the suspect see's you with His Royal Highness it might put yourself at risk, Grace,' Kieran said. 'If you continue to be seen close with him in public, you will be under pressure and under scrutiny from the suspect, do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir,"

"I just thought I would let you know. Her Royal Highness the Queen has organised some hair and make up artists for you tonight as a thank you, they're in your room at the moment." Kieran said.

"Thank you, Sir," I said.

I sat holed up in my room for quite a few hours; there was a gift basket left on the coffee table in the middle of the room from Caroline, thanking for me taking her son out to find his suit and apologising for his behaviour at breakfast. Part of me was tempted just to return it to her, thanking her for the opportunity to work here but I would have to leave. Perhaps I could say it was a family emergency and just leave?

Or was I just being melodramatic and over the top. It was a certain personality trait I had – over exaggerated everything without me even noticing but this was logical. But this was logical – surely. It didn't take a miracle to work out that this wasn't like it was in pop music, or what it was like in teenage books, or what this was like in films. This wasn't a boy and a girl meet and defy all odds and end up together with hundreds of children who run around whilst we have family picnics in the park. This was reality; if I didn't get shredded apart by him, or his family, or my family, or my friends, or even acquaintances, or work, the media would have me. But my maths had it that media was seventh in line to rip me apart.

I shifted uncomfortably in the chair and realised I was sitting on his jumper, the crest on the upper corner and I sighed. But deep down, I really did like Luke – and he was my Soulfinder. The child part of me wanted it. My Mum sit beside me and read me fairy tales from the big white books we had when I was a child, but then closed it and told me the fairytale of Soulfinder's. I wanted that happiness that only he could give me, the sense of feeling complete. And in all honesty, it had been just over twenty four hours since I arrived here, but I already felt better as a human. It was like I was gently buzzing. I liked him. In time, I knew I would fall in love with him and it would make it a thousand times harder to do anything.

The worst thing of all was that Luke liked me back. He didn't care about any of this, he saw me as a random person who just happened to be his Soulfinder – thus the most important part of his life. He wanted to protect me and keep me safe. That was obvious – the way he held me in his sleep and the way he treated me at breakfast. But, I wasn't sure.

My brain was spinning. I needed time. I needed time to sit down with Luke and talk it all through like adults, and not like bickering children. Well, without me being like a bickering child. Luke was spoilt as a kid and even now, it's not hard to notice how he thought he always got his way, so he only ever saw his side of the story. Perhaps if I confine in him and tell him my fears properly, not sugar coating them like I did previous, not hiding anything, he might start to understand.

However, the next time I saw him would be at the ball and given the mood he was in with me before he left the car, I wouldn't be overly surprised if he was flirting with everything that had a pulse whilst I stood there doing bugger all because I was just "security," and nothing more.

God, this was going to kill me before long.

There was a sharp knock at the door and I got up, straightening out my shirt and using the hem to wipe away the mascara that had come off whilst I was crying at some point, and walked to the door hoping it was look.

'Hello, Grace, we're here to do your makeup and hair,' I heard before the door is even open, and outside stood a team of four girls, three of which were very tanned. 'We're here very early, as we've been told by Her Royal Highness that you need to be downstairs with the rest of the security at half six for the briefing. Guest arrive at half seven and the Royal family will make their appearance at eight, and the event will last until eleven, but I'm sure you're aware of this,' The main girl said, swooping in the room with confidence. Clearly raised in a higher class family. She looked me up and down, and then at a time.

'We're gunna need a miracle to pull this one off,' She muttered not very quietly to her team who smirked and I kicked the door closed. I was wishing the night away before I had even started.

It didn't take the long to pull off a "miracle" and they had left me after forty five minutes on the job. As I wasn't a princess or anything special, they had put my hair up in an elegant bun, pinning it into place, but leaving a few stray bits of hair down and curling them, so I had a few strands either side of my face which didn't leave me looking like a child. My make up was subtle – grey eye shadow, eyeliner in a petite little flick, mascara, foundation, power and a tiny bit of blusher. Nothing much, but enough to make me blend into the crowd. The girls had even put me in my dress, which had dropped nicely since me arriving home. They zipped up the side for me (all just to match the eye shadow with the dress colour) and suggested a small petticoat underneath. And they were gone.

I stood looking at myself in the mirror and I couldn't recognise myself. Jack used to tell me I had a quality of innocent about me but he couldn't put his finger on – perhaps it was my chubby cheeks, small stature, baby hands or a ringing innocence in my eyes – but whatever it was, it made me "Me" however it had been taken away from me. I went from being Grace to a security girl and the Prince's "hooking up" ball. That was who I was for tonight. Not Luke's Soulfinder or girlfriend – wait, shit, I was his girlfriend? – But just security.

I was his girlfriend I remembered. The memory had receded but made a friendly reappearance. Fuck. I shook my head to clear it. I was security. Tonight, I was nothing to him. We can take tomorrow when it claws its way around

Fuck again – I never brought any shoes to go with the dress and I wasn't the type of girl to bring heels with me. But who was I out to impress? Luke? Ha! The dress – a grey halter neck which gathered under my bust and flowed out to the floor with a handful of gems that caught the light in a brilliant manner and sparkled every time I moved – was floor length. I shoved my Converse on underneath. I was security with a tiny touch of Grace then. Couldn't remove everything.

And I left the room, leaving the key in my dress' bra.

I had already memorised my way down to the Grand Hall thanks to my gift, managing to get down there in about ten minutes careful not to stand on my dress as I made it. Figuring out which was led down to one of the back doors, I edged into the room and found the rest of security; all of them men in tails – a very formal type of suit. One or two of them looked around as I made me way to the group but other than that, no one noticed I appeared.

"Grace, glad you could make it, got a bit lost?" Kieran asked me and I nodded. Of course I didn't, however, it was easier than explaining that I had sat in my room crying for ages which he told me to get ready.

"We had only just started, Grace, don't worry," Kieran told me politely before addressing the whole group.

"Tonight is the big night, as you know gentleman and... Grace, this room will contain the Royal families of most of the EU, as well as some other countries. Mingling will be at high, so security has to be unprecedented as we are setting an example. So, you will be covering all exits ready to block it on the code word. If we're in lock down, you do not let anyone out. If there is an attack of sort, everyone will be escorted back to their rooms, their keys taken, and you will guard the hallway until we get the all clear. However, everyone will get searched before they come in. Royal families won't, their security will be checked, triple checked, searched, and checked again. You will not talk to the Royal family unless you are spoken too, and will address them correctly. Furthermore, none of you will go home with anyone tonight, or your job will be at risk," Kieran listed out and I gulped as everyone else chuckled.

"Perfect, now I want you in this order," Kieran said and he read out a list of people and their locations; four on the upstairs left door, four on the upstairs right door, two in the middle, two down the bottom of the grand staircase, two in each corner, one along the way, one on the right hand door and myself on the left hand door. The doors were waitress staff and caterers, so they didn't need extra security. I sighed, before walking over to my post.

However, I was happy – it was out the way, chances are Luke wouldn't find me over here.

It was 7:54pm and it was packed to the rafters already; princesses aged from sixteen up were vying for an opportunity for Luke's hand in not only marriage, but to carry his inevitable child too. The room was awash with colours, from subtle pink to bright yellow, all in big dresses as they floated around. No one had given me a second look next in my dress as security. Everyone just floated around like they were on clouds and it grounded my worthlessness; these were all perfect models grown up perfectly with etiquette and – oh yeah – they were royal.

A bell rung, and a man in a very formal navy suit walked into the middle of the grand staircase.

"Ladies and gentleman, we welcome His Royal Highness, King Edward, and Her Royal Highness, Queen Caroline," He said, and down the stairs came the King and Queen, arms linked, smiles on their faces. There was an applaud from everyone in the lobby. "And His Royal Highness, Prince Theodore, and His Royal Highness, Prince Luke,"

A louder clap and I noticed all the girls start playing with their hair, their dresses, and adjusting how they stood to get a good angle for Luke. Him and his brother came out the stairs, standing right in the middle for a second. Theo turned slightly to say something to him and he smiled, sticking his hands deep into his pockets and he smirked. They stood at the top of the stairs for a moment, Luke staring out into the distance, whilst Theo scanned the room. I noticed his eyes linger on me for a moment as he smiled slightly, but he continued to scan the room. He then muttered something to Luke, and he focused back on the room, scanning like he did. He simply skipped over me, before looking at the rest of the room. I saw him grin back to the room, turning to Theo. I saw him say, "Yeah, i'll take that one," before both of them walked down the stairs.

I shivered slightly. Tonight will be a long night.

It was edging on eleven o'clock, and I had painstakingly watched Luke chat up every single girl in the room, smiling, joking, flirting – the full works. I cringed each time, getting increasingly annoyed and upset at the same time. The room started to empty as the event came to a close, but the room was still busy when I heard someone beside me.

"You're jealous," Luke said. I turned to my side and he was leaning against the wall, shoe on the wall as he leaned against me.

"I'm not," I muttered back and he laughed gently.

"Okay," Luke said. "You have roast dinners right?" Luke asked me and I looked at him in shock.

"What?"

"I'll take that as a yes," Luke said. "When you have a roast dinner, you have your vegetables first, then the potatoes, parsnips, you leave the best to last, right? You leave the chicken?" Luke asked. "You're my chicken,"

"That's not romantic," I sighed.

"Grace, please, please give this a go," Luke said.

"You just spent three hours chatting everyone up, and you're asking me to give it a go, what – was none of them good enough," I muttered.

"You can lip read, you saw me earlier say to my brother, what did I say?"

"You said, 'Yeah, I'll take that one,' whilst looking at some girl," I said and he sighed.

"Grace, I was talking about you. Theo knows about us. He's put it together, and he can tell when I lie. He looked around the room trying to find you, told me that my girl was looking beautiful, but I had to make it up to her, as I'm stupid. He said to look at you subtly and make a decision if I want you forever, if I wanted to get married to you one day, grow old." I look at Luke as he spoke out to the room before turning back to me. "I said I'll take it,"

"What?" I asked.

"Grace, please," He sighed looking back at me, "I don't want anyone in this room, I want you. I'm sorry I pushed you into this state; I'm willing to sit down and talk about it. We're from different planets, you're right; however, it won't stop us,"

"So?"

"So, let's go back to yours. Let's talk,"

I bailed out early, walking back to my room acutely aware that Luke was following me. I pulled out my key from my bra, putting it in the door as Luke raised his eyebrow at me, but followed without a word. He came into my room, closing the door.

"Grace," he said, going to speak but I rushed forward to him, going on tiptoes, pressing my lips against his. He hesitated for a second before kissing back, pushing his tongue into my mouth, his hands holding my back. My hands explored his shirt, untucking the shirt, untying his tie as his hand explored the back of my dress and in one quick movement he unzipped my dress.

"I love you, Grace," Luke said.

"I love you too," I muttered as he grinned at me, my dress dropping off me as he picked me up, my legs wrapped around his waist.


	9. Chapter 9

**Nine**

I naturally woke up at stupid o'clock in the morning, before the sun had even attempted to rise, curled up happily into Luke's chest. I peeped up at him and sure enough he was out for the count. The alcohol he consumed last night, pushing him to a semi-tipsy state meant that he wouldn't be awake until at least midday but in his arms I felt... content. Happy. I mean, both of us were naked again, the covers only roughly thrown over us. I snuggled up a bit closer to him, taking in a scent that was just him. Pure.

I telekinetically moved my phone over to myself, unplugging it before opening up my Facebook – just a mess of people complaining about general life and a incoherent mess of memes. I stopped dead when I saw an article published by a beauty magazine, with the title that made my heart melt.

 **Prince Luke ENGAGED already? Kiss and tell stories from inside the Royal Ball show Luke's real side – and his proposal to Princess Lenian of Spain.**

 **It's been reported from an inside source within the Palace that the Royal Ball, which the King and Queen of England organised in order to get their youngest son, Prince Luke, a girlfriend was a success – some might say a bit too much of a success!**

 **Source(s) have expressed an exclusive story to the papers about the secret proposal by Luke, shown within the photo above, to the Princess of Spain.**

 **Whilst Buckingham Palace have yet to say anything, we are sceptical about what this means for the heartthrob of the UK and Europe.**

My mouth dropped as I opened the magazine article but I felt a hand over the top of mine, before Luke pushed the phone down. He smiled softly before kissing my forehead. Luke didn't look completely with it though.

'Morning,' He whispered. I gently kissed him back and he smiled back at me, running his hand through my hair. 'What were you frowning at?'

'Frowning?' I replied back.

'You looked troubled,' He said.

'Oh, just a news article,' I muttered and he nodded, picking up my phone which was still unlocked. I blushed as he frowned, reading the article.

'Not even a kiss and tell – that would require kissing someone. Unless this is your article,' He teased and I shook my head. 'I'll sort it out,' He used my phone to send the link to someone, typing angrily, before putting it down on the pillow at arm's length before he hugged me again, rubbing my arm. 'God, you're beautiful,' He said.

'I must look awful,' I muttered knowing my hair and makeup from yesterday must be everywhere.

'That's not possible,' He muttered, rolling me over before kissing my neck, collar bone and then across my shoulder. 'I said we'd talk, didn't I?'

It's hard to focus.

'Yeah,' I sighed.

'So what's up,' He muttered, his fingers tracing patterns over my abdomen as he continued to kiss my shoulder.

'Your parents will hate me,'

'They don't hate you, you know that. They love you. They don't like the idea of us two being together, but as I've said before they'll learn to like it and if they don't then I don't care about all this Royal malarkey, I will happily move into a normal flat and get a normal job and just be... normal. I don't care about status, I want a family. I want a beautiful, kind, gentle girlfriend who just makes me happy just seeing her in the morning – that's you, if you didn't get that – and I want the whole first date, second date thing. I want to wake up in the morning with you there and go to bed with you there. I want to, one day, get married and have a family, and if my parents don't want that, then that's shit but it's okay. It's you who I want,' Luke whispered, looking up at me. 'It's taken me a while to get that, to understand where you are coming from, but I see it now. We'll work it out as we go along. I'm clearly ahead between us, but I've had months away at war to think about you, about this, us together, I'm okay to wait, as long as you are happy that's all I care about. I'm sorry for being an asshole,'

'It's not your fault, sorry for being so... uptight,' I muttered and he kissed me sharply.

'None of that,'

'None of what?'

'Talking yourself down, I'm not having it,'

'Mm,' I replied and he smiled softly, straddling me in an awkward way.

'So, when will you feel comfortable telling my parents?'

'Ha, not for a few weeks, let's just see how this goes before we go telling family,' I said and Luke smiled softly.

'Theo worked it out, though,' Luke said, sitting back on his knees and quickly looking me up and down with a smile. I pulled the duvet over my chest, frowning at him and he grinned.

'Jack knows too,'

'Oh, he's going to murder me,'

'Yup,' I grinned back.

'You're meant to protect me,'

'What, from the giant camp mess that is my older brother? I don't think you need protecting,' I muttered as Luke laid down beside me again, pulling me on top of him.

'Hmm, I don't think we do,' He grinned, kissing me for what felt like the eighth hundred time but I felt happy and content. I was completely in love with Luke.'

\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/

 **Four weeks later**

I sniffed slightly, the winter's air filling my already shitty lungs. My asthma always plays up within winter, which I think goes for everyone who has asthma and the polluted air of London wasn't helping. I had started to get somewhere with the job that I was sent here to do (which, strangely enough, wasn't to sleep with the Prince of England) with tracking down the person inside the Palace who was leaking sensitive information about the family, which will hopefully lead to any information about the deaths of two members of cleaning; Kethena, a 32 year old woman who has worked in the Palace for seven years, and Michaela, who's worked here for five years. They were both found in their rooms a few weeks apart with "unexplained" deaths, the autopsies coming back completely clean.

My first point of call was the kiss and tell article from four weeks ago, with the grainy photos of Luke from the ball, and the story. I reviewed all the CCTV from that night and saw nothing out of the ordinary however it was entirely possible for the photos to be taken from outside the ballroom itself through one of the many windows with any device that had a camera with zoom enabled. I spent long days at work; getting up and showing myself at role call 8am every weekday, doing general security work until half one, where I would dart back to my room and try and find any leads of the information, before arriving at the changing off staff at four in the evening before "calling it a day," and heading back to my room to continue work. Even on weekends I was clocking the hours.

Within the last month, I had become so attached to Luke the idea of someone ratting him out was too much and I came completely dedicated to the cause in order to try and protect my Luke. His parents still didn't know about us but I was ready for them to know now. We were such an item that, whilst we didn't see each other much during the day he would sneak into my living area and spend the night with me. Even on weekends, he was hard to shift from my area – not that I wanted too – and his mind was incredible when it came to the type of work that I was doing.

I had just spent the last five hours on my computer, relentlessly tying the date of each story leaked to the press to the staff present that day or a few days around the reporting story trying to wean it down and spent most of that time reading articles about my boyfriend.

'Grace, you okay?' Luke asked me softly. I was at my desk, sitting sniffling to myself as the cold had sat on my chest in Luke's hoody and a blanket around my shoulders. I had already gone through a box of tissues with this cold and it didn't feel like it was going to go any time soon.

'I'm fine?'

'Really? 'cause it sounds like you're dying,' Luke joked, jumping up from the sofa where he was watching catch up reality TV – something his parents never liked him doing within his own living spaces in the Palace – and walked over to me before kissing my temple, his hand on my forehead. 'You've got a temperature,'

'No, I'm freezing,' I muttered and he gently held my hands – which were like icicles.

'You're working too hard, Grace,' He whispered to me, 'You need to stop and watch some shitty TV. Look, it's mid-November now, I'm a celebrity is on, let's binge watch that together,' He said.

'I have work to do,' I protested but curling up into Luke watching crappy TV seemed ideal at the moment.

'No, I decide this one,' He said, closing my laptop lid down and within one swift movement, he scooped me up and carried me over to the settee, placing me down. He sat beside me so I was able to lean against him, half laying down. He adjusted the blanket so it was over me. 'You're now in sick time at work, I'll make you better again,' Luke said, kissing my clammy forehead.

I only had a few seconds to think that my cold has taken it to the next levels when the wave of nausea hit me, and I got up to run to the toilet. Luke, recognising the signs, telekinetically moved a bucket over and I threw up in it. I cringed with embarrassment as Luke held my hair back, gently muttering "It's okay, Grace," over and over again.

'Tell your parents about us,' I said as Luke got up and sorted out the vomit in the bucket. I awkwardly got up and headed to the toilet too, wanting to brush my teeth to get the acidic taste of vomit out of my mouth. Luke, who was washing out the bucket as I got in there frowned at me being up but when realising what I was doing let it go. He was in a pair of jogging bottoms and a thin shirt that clung well to his body, but it had become normal for him to walk around in that clothing around here. He kept half of his clothes in my bedroom and no one would bother looking here for him – apart from Theo who knew about us in a bit too much detail but Theo had started to treat me like a little sister, and in a way he became a brotherly figure to me too.

'Was it a revolutionary puke?' He joked.

'I'm serious,' I said, toothbrush in mouth and Luke stood up, frowning at me. 'Tell your parents about us,'

'This has come out of the blue?'

'It's like we're constantly hiding from them,'

'We are,' Luke said.

'I don't want to anymore.' I sniffled before starting to cry. I spit the foam out of my mouth and washed it away before Luke noticed I was crying.

'Do females turn emotional when ill?' He asked and I nodded and Luke hugged me tight.

'We'll talk about this later –'

'No, now. I want to be able to have dinner with you, Theo and your parents and for them to know about us, even if they don't approve, that they at least know that we're together, so they stop bugging you.'

For the last month solidly they had been bugging Luke about girlfriends and contacting people from the ball and there was only so much "thinking" as Luke phrased it, that he can do. It got a stage that it was starting to upset me watching it. That's how I knew it was time to come out, so to speak, about our relationship.

'You're probably not in the right state of mind to make this decision,' Luke told me softly, moving to hold my hand and leading me back out to the sofa. My legs were shaking but I knew my mind was right.

'No, Luke, if you don't tell them I will, and in "this state of mind" as you just said, I don't think I'm qualified to do it. I don't want this to be a secret anymore. A month ago, when I didn't know you and I was here for less than three days you wanted to tell the world. What's changed now?' I asked him.

'I'm just scared for your sake,' He whispered as I sat down. He sat beside me, immediately hugging me. 'You're incredibly fragile and I don't want to be part of the reason you break,' He muttered. 'Go to sleep, I'll sort it out,' He whispered softly and whilst I wanted to protest about not being fragile it weak, I couldn't deny how tired and ill I felt. He kissed my forehead but I was able to sense his distress and concern from miles away. So I closed my eyes, hoping I would fall asleep.

And at some point I must have, as I heard someone knock at the door, and there was a silence, before the door was opened. I still felt Luke's arm around me so I could only guess he opened the door telekinetically to his brother, who knew about us.

'She okay?' Theo immediately asked walking into the room. He had broken up with his girlfriend a week ago but he didn't really care.

'Ill, working too hard. Threw up everywhere,' Luke said softly.

'Bless her. She is pushing it,' Theo added and I wanted to protest to high hell.

'She told me earlier she wants me to tell Mum and Dad about us,' Luke sighed. 'Dad will flip. I told her for the last month he won't but they've accepted her as part of the family but nothing more. She's not part of the family because she is with me,'

'He might flip, yeah, but you won't have to live a secret. You'll be able to see her whatever time you want and won't have to sneak around into her room and so on. I'm with Grace on this one, tell Mum first though. She'll be thrilled. She adores Grace,' It was true, I guess, Caroline and I have Sunday mornings for a catch up and pedicure time, with face masks. Not something I would have dreamt about doing with the Queen a year ago but hey, I couldn't imagine doing any of this with the Queen last year. 'Get her on your side, tell Dad at dinner. Best if she isn't there, though, for the worst case.'

'I guess,'

'Trust Grace on this one,' Theo said. 'She does look really pale, you might want to think about telling the doctor about her,'

As if he'll tell the on-site doctor on me.

'I think she'll be fine,'

'Keep an eye on her,' Theo warned and I frowned. Why did he want someone to keep an eye on me?

'Okay,' Luke said, rubbing my arm under the duvet.

'She's asleep, right?'

'Yeah?'

'Go tell Mum now, I'll hang around in case she wakes up,' Theo offered and Luke sighed.

A moment later, he gently got up, lying me down on the settee with a pillow under my head. He kissed my forehead as I pretended to be asleep, not to show any sign of fear and keep my thoughts very limited in case he takes the time now to eavesdrop to them.

'This will work out fine,' He muttered to me but it sounded more like reassurance for him. 'I promise,' He said before he left the room.


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten**

Once again, I drifted off soon after Luke left the room – I heard Theo awkwardly shuffle around the room, making him a cup of tea before cleaning the room for me. I normally am on top of cleaning but I felt so shit over the last week with this cold or flu (or somewhere in between) I let it get to me. And Luke would rather look after me than tidy too. I resurfaced a few hours later and I was in my bed, alone this time, with the duvet and the blanket over me and a teddy bear in my arms. I wasn't too sure where the teddy had come from but it was very comforting. I could hear someone else moving around in the room though.

'Grace?' Luke said ever so softly. 'You awake yet?'

'Yeah,' I whispered, head pounding and my throat burning. Luke came over to me as I opened my eyes slightly. He had taken off his shirt and was walking around in a pair of jogging bottoms. I could clearly see the scar on his left shoulder from his injury at war but it went as no man's land between us – he didn't speak about it so I never brought it up. However, I heard search into it one of the days where he was at a charity event with Theo and I had the laptop free to myself. He had two injuries from war; he was shot in the leg and as he was being dealt with on the field for that injury, there was an explosion from a mine about forty foot away from him, and the explosion sent debris into his right shoulder. Everyone in the incident survived. Luke had surgery to remove the bullet and the shrapnel but was now left with a jagged scar on his shoulder, which he constantly tried to cover up. Same story with his leg, however recently he didn't mind me seeing it and would walk around without a shirt on, so I never brought it up. I know what is lie to have people bring up things you never want to talk about.

'How are you feeling?' Luke asked, sitting beside me on the bed.

'How did you Mum take the news?' I asked in reply and he frowned.

'How did you know I was telling Mum?'

'Theo woke me up when he knocked; I was just pretending to be asleep. How did she take it?' I asked nervously and Luke sighed, running his hand through his fluffy hair - like dandelion quills - which looked like it had been freshly washed before lying down beside me. He rolled over onto his side before tracing patterns on my side.

'She's over the moon,' Luke said, grinning. 'She didn't believe me, she called Theo down and he backed me up, and then she was over the moon. She wouldn't stop talking about you, how good you are to me, and how much she's notice I've changed mainly because I've started behaving. She suspected something but she never suspected this. She wants to see you when you're up but Mum understands you're ill,' Luke said.

'So you can tell you Dad and he'll be fine?'

'Grace, it's not that easy, he won't be happy. Mum said he will not be happy. At all. Now Theo has gone through a break up, and me refusing to cooperate, he won't feel like he has control of us anymore and he will flip and I won't let him hurt you in any way but he won't be happy.' Luke explained softly and I teared up.

'Don't cry, Grace, I have a plan,' Luke whispered.

'To get your Dad to suddenly love a lower to middle class orphan? Okay, tell me your plan, Luke,' I said and he frowned at me.

'We're telling him tonight at dinner, he will flip off, Mum will talk to him and so will Theo, in the mean time I've booked a very nice cottage in Cornwall for us for two days. I've told Kieran you're ill and you won't be back in work for a week or so and he's okay with that, so I've packed your bags. We're going on holiday tonight,' Luke said softly. 'Me, you, the ocean,'

'The fear your Dad will hate you and me, and you will lose everything you know, and with me half dying, yeah sounds lovely and romantic,' I added and he looked at me slightly weirdly.

'You're not dying,'

'Half dying,' I corrected him.

'Either way, no,' He said.

'You're so scared about how your Dad will react you booked us a holiday to escape. You can tell me you're not scared because I know you are, Luke, but do you really think he'll react this negatively?' I whispered and Luke looked at me with puppy eyes.

'I don't know, Grace, which is why I want to get you out of here after I tell him so he can calm down before seeing both of us again. Mum originally suggested it, she found the place and paid for it, I'm driving down so you can sleep on the drive – it should only take about four hours. It is just to give him time to think, to calm down, and Theo and Mum will both talk to him about it too, so it's just a precaution,'

It felt a lot more real now that his Mum knew about me. Jack had known from the beginning and has settled down with the idea but that has taken a month for him to even be willing to invite us both over for dinner around his house. He had settled down with the idea seeing how happy I was and, even though we hadn't seen each other in about three months, he could tell by our evening phone call how much happier I was. I didn't notice it, but now looking back I could. I was so withdrawn before I arrived here; I was struggling in every aspect. I never used to eat and I dropped three dress sizes after my parent's death, and was floating between sizes eight and ten, and mainly eight. Now, however, with Luke around who makes me regular meals and makes sure I eat, I was back up to my normal size twelve and I was so much happier. I really hated being alone, and now it felt like I would never be alone again. And now people were accepting us both as an item, it seemed even well. I smiled at Luke and he frowned.

'You okay?' Luke asked me.

'I love you,' I whispered to him and he frowned even more. I went to sit on the edge of the bed and Luke watched me.

'I love you too,' He said finally, moving over to put his arm around my waist. He kissed me ever so slightly. 'You don't mind what I just said about it being a precaution?'

'Of course I mind, I just... I just want you,' I said looking up at him, the concern in his eyes. He smiled softly, putting his arm around me.

'You have me, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. We have all the time in the world to figure this out.' Luke said and there was a knock at the door. I quickly checked was I was wearing and Luke must have changed me into my pyjamas – a set from Primark. It had a light pink shirt and white cuffed bottoms in the theme of Winnie the Pooh – the bottoms being the map and the top had Pooh bear and piglet hugging.

'Luke?' I heard Caroline said softly through the door.

'Here we go,' Luke said to me, kissing me one last time, moving the throw around my shoulders as he got up, left the bedroom and into the living area and opened the door. I couldn't stand the suspense, so I got up and crept over to the door. The door into the bedroom was a double door, made with wood, and one door was constantly open and the other door I wasn't too sure if it actually opened but it gave me shelter to hide.

'Mum, what?' Luke asked.

'Is she up get? Is Grace up?' Caroline asked.

'I told you she was ill?'

'I was excited, Luke!' She protested but it was still in a hushed whisper. I stood just beside the closed door so she couldn't see me but I could hear. 'Do you know how much I've wanted a daughter? I wanted to be able to take my little girl shopping, and get our nails done together and make over's and late night films, and I never got that with you and Theo – but now I have a daughter!'

I found it really hard to believe the Queen was like this behind closed doors. This was not the side the public saw, that was for sure, they saw a very sophisticated lady of Royal bloodline who is known to be serious. Not the woman I saw every Sunday in a charcoal mud mask brought from Boots for a fiver.

But it filled me with warmth and happiness how accepting she was – she just took me on as her own child less than an hour of finding out about my relationship to her son. I knew in that second she would protect me completely – but if Edward didn't agree with me, would I rip the family apart?

'She's asleep –' Luke said just as I edged around the doorway. He looked at me with a small smile, knowing I heard every single word of what she said and I smiled back. He wasn't mad I immediately disproved his lie. He was just so happy for me. In a way, I was over the moon too – this had given me extra family. I already viewed Luke as an extension of myself; we were just so natural next to each other's sides. Theo was basically my brother, too, and he always texts me and invites me out to events he goes too within the public eye. But now, with his mother so happy about me being there made me feel over the moon. Caroline came over to me, looking at me for a second before pulling me into a hug. For a moment I was a bit shocked before I managed to catch a glance of Luke, who just stood smiling before catching my eyes. He made a gesture for me to hug her back, and I did.

'Oh, my little girl,' Caroline whispered to me, 'I wish you would have told me sooner, Grace,' She said to me, hugging me tight and rocking me side to side. I frowned, 'Me and your Dad always had a joke it would be you and Luke, your due dates were a few days apart but you were premature. He was, too, but not as much as you. I'm so happy for you both,'

She pulled away from the hug, smiling at me contently. Luke came over to me, putting his arm around my shoulder before kissing my forehead softly. He was a lot taller than I am which made hugs like this fun. I snuggled into him slightly, still feeling groggy. Caroline just grinned at us.

'You two ready to get away for the weekend then?' Caroline said.

'Mum, I told her why we're going. I'm not keeping secrets from her,' Luke immediately said. 'I won't lie to her,'

'I'm sure it won't be bad, Grace, Edward is just very fixed on the idea of Luke marrying a Princess from another country, and not...' She didn't finish the sentence but I could imagine a variety of ways she could finish that sentence, but instead she stopped talking and took a deep breath. 'Both myself and Theo have agreed to talk to him when Luke tells him, but it's just so he has time to think about it properly before you two are back. It's a very nice place...' Caroline went on to describe the place in details but I wasn't too sure – it seemed very clear everyone was terrified about how Edward would react but I was too sure why. I remembered – thanks to my gift – that Caroline once told me Luke used to be very aggressive and have violent tendencies. I've yet to see him be aggressive to anyone. I also remember Luke telling me about his father – he was very quick to get angry with Luke and Theo, and he was very strict. Could Edward be violent, then?

'Thank you,' I said as she finished describing her memories of going on holiday there.

'So if you get your bags packed and take them down to your car ready, Grace, if you stay in the car when Luke tells him, and then he will meet you down there and you two and go,' Caroline said. 'I'm so happy for both of you, and Grace, your parents would be so proud of you,' And with that, she left the room and Luke hugged me tight, kissing the crown of my head softly.

Both of us walked down to Luke's car - I'm pretty sure he didn't have a car of his own until very recently – but he stopped by a new 56 place Corsa – meaning it was just over a year old, and unlocked it.

'Nice ride,' I told him and he smiled. 'Thought, you knowing, being third in line to the throne meant you were wealthy?' I asked him and he rolled his eyes.

'Here for the money?' He joked and I rolled my eyes in response. 'I like to be subtle – I think driving a Jag around is a bit... obvious. So Corsa it was. I liked your Corsa,' Luke said, opening the boot and threw his bag in, before moving forward and grabbing my suitcase before placing it in the boot.

'My Corsa is old,' I commented.

'Palace wasn't too happy with me wanting a fifteen year old Corsa, this girl was my compromise – her name is Ruby,' Luke said, closing the boot door – it made sense. The car was a red colour to start with and it just looked incredible and sleek. He handed me the keys. 'We're both insured on it – I told Kieran that I wanted you to be my driver, so he added you on. However, I think it's better if I drive tonight as you're ill,' He came forward and kissed me softly.

'And you're kissing the ill girl,' I commented.

'I love the ill girl, we can both be ill together,' Luke said.

'You're scared?'

'Me? Scared? Never!'

'Luke...' I sighed.

'Fine, yeah, I'm scared. It's only because I love you so much and I want everyone else too and I don't want my Dad ruining this,' He took my hand gently.

'He won't ruin us, I promise, now get your ass upstairs and tell him so we can go have a cute weekend away,' I said. He handed me the key and I took it.

'Sit in the driver's seat, turn the engine on and put the heating on. Get comfy too. However, the driving snacks,' He handed the key over to me before holding up the backpack we had stuffed with drinks and sweets and snack foods.

'Yes sir,' I commented and he leaned forward, kissing me sharply before playing with my hair.

'I'll be down in about ten minutes,' Luke said to me softly. 'I love you, Grace,'

'I love you too – you'll be fine,' I asked but it sounded more like a question.

'I'll be fine,' He replied sighing. We both knew he wouldn't be fine. But he left me standing here, looking over his shoulder once more to smile at me sadly before entering the corridor leading to the stairs and I was left by myself.


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven**

I sat in the front seat, curled up in my blanket and with the heating on for ten minutes, checking every movement in the car park for Luke to come down, but sure enough he didn't. Twenty minutes had pasted and there was no sign of him at all. At fifty minutes waiting in the car, I opened the snack back Luke joked about not touching and took out a fruit drink pouch and punctured the side, stabbing the straw into to take small sips off. I still didn't trust myself not to throw up but I was getting to the point I felt sick because I was hungry.

About eighty minutes after Luke left, he made his way through the door again, kicking it open with a loud crash against the concrete wall and my gut dropped. He was fuming. As he approached Ruby, I got out of the front seat and stood beside his car.

'How did it go?' I asked him and he came straight over, hugging me against his chest tight and rocking my slightly, before kissing the top of my head.

'I love you,' He muttered before letting go of me. 'Get in the car,' He said.

'No, how did it go?' I repeated.

'Grace, please, get in the car,' Luke repeated, gently moving me out the way to jump into the front seat. I stood there for a second and sighed. 'Grace. Car. Now.' Luke repeated through the open window and I jumped slightly, before jogging around the car to climb into the passenger seat. I slammed the door behind me and threw my seatbelt on before looking over at Luke. I saw the anger rippling below the surface and I knew how it went but I wanted to know the details. With just a fleeting fake smile at me, Luke stuck the car into reverse and got out of the bay and sped up the ramps heading to the exit.

'There's a SatNav in the glove box, can you programme it up for me? Send us towards the M4 – I know the way from there,' Luke asked and I did what he said, asking the SatNav to pick up our GPS signal to direct us towards the M4 – a large motorway heading from London to the West of England. By the time I had set it up, and stuck it to the window, Luke had already cleared the car park and was slowing down at the gates, where he put on a pair of sunglasses. The guard asked him a few questions before wishing him a good evening and we were gone.

The silence in the car was deafening until we got out of London – which took about two hours in rush hour. Once we got on the M4, I took the SatNav down and angled myself so I could talk to Luke. He sighed, knowing what was coming. It was about half six now, and we wouldn't be at our retreat for another four or so hours and he couldn't keep up the silence with me for too long. I could see his resolve fading as we sat there together.

'What happened?' I asked him softly, gently touching his hand that was on his leg as we cruised at just over the speed limit in the middle lane.

'How much detail do you want?' Luke retorted.

'Er, all of the detail, we have all night,' I said and he smiled sadly.

'Mum met me at the top of the stairs, and she had told me father was in a good mood. I kind of had my hopes up from that moment. We both went into the drawing room and he was sitting there happy as ever, he sat me down and we talked about the football results and the charity events upcoming for Mind UK and I thought it would be fine.' Luke looked out the side window for a split second before he focused back on the road.

'He then gave me this A5 book, and it was full of every single Princess who was single and was interested in me,' He shook his head, 'Near enough all the pages were full; he had wrote up almost a biography of all of these girls, aged from about sixteen to thirty. Their birth dates, siblings, hobbies, bloody statements they had made about themselves. It was like a CV – like they were applying for a job, and he had sat there and handwrote all of them out,' Luke shook his head in disgust.

'I straight up told him I have a girlfriend, like Theo told me to do. He laughed, before realising I wasn't joking. He then asked me to point her out in the book. I told him she wasn't in the book and he laughed again, saying there was no girl in my life who wasn't a Princess at the moment and I told him to think carefully. He realised it was you pretty fast. He told me that you weren't a good match for me – yeah you're pretty and smart but you're not _royal_ or of high status blood. You don't have an Oscar to your name, basically. I told him straight up I don't care, I love you to pieces, and he once again laughed saying how foolish I was. He was offering me a banquet and I settled for fruit snack bag,'

He gripped the steering wheel tight and his jaw clenched. I gently reached out and touched his arm – I could feel the muscles underneath rippling but he smiled softly at my touch.

'I've been called worse, Luke, carry on, don't get angry,' I told him softly. He took a deep breath.

'I told him that you were my Soulfinder, we had known since the day you arrived but I wanted to keep it a secret. He then told me Soulfinder's don't exist, I was deceiving myself; I needed to grow up and realise how much more I was worth than a fairy tale. I told him to fuck off, that we were happy together how we are, we both love each other and we don't need his permission to carry on. If he doesn't like that, then fine, we can go find somewhere else to live and it's about time I moved out now too. He just sat in silence for a while. I went to get out and come and see you, but he forced the door closed with his mind – that's what he can do – and told me that you were using me for fame, for money, for status, for sex, the lot. That I don't know how manipulative females can be, and I had fallen straight for the trap. He tried to convince me that you were just using me for sex and money,' Luke's voice died down to a whisper.

'I'm not,' I whispered, scared.

'I know you're not, I just... I don't want to bring you into a family where someone would think so little of you, Grace, you're far too precious. You mean the whole world to me, but the idea my own Father would think of you like that,' Luke clenched his jaw. 'I grew up just wanting to be normal, but obviously that wasn't possible, but because I grew up as something more, that now my Father sees the World as so distorted, sees anyone below Princess as not worthy.'

I swallowed as he weaved in between cars and I knew we were over the speed limit and my chest tightened.

'Luke, slow down,' I muttered.

'I don't want him to view you like this,' Luke sighed.

'Slow down, now, please,' I asked with the impending sense of doom hitting on me.

'No one should view you like that!' Luke shouted, hitting the steering wheel as I saw his speed hit mid nineties and my chest hurt with my heart drumming against my chest and I could remember vividly that night.

I'm sure most people would remember that night, but my gift meant I didn't miss a single detail. It was about half eight and Mum and Dad hadn't come home. They had missed their soap, and both of their dinners was still in the oven – I had made chicken breasts in soy sauce and honey, with potato wedges and beans (perhaps not my best meal, but it was a Thursday night meal). I was getting on edge, pacing the room before sitting down and then pacing again. I put down my cup of tea on the coaster on the left of the table, as I heard a car pull up outside. I ran to the door, expecting Mum and Dad to be standing there apologising. Instead, it was a stone-faced police officer, asking if they were okay to come in.

They stayed with me as I cried, until Jack got there, and then told Jack too. I never sped after that again.

'Luke, slow down, now,' I shouted back at him, tears soaking my face, I flinched back into the corner of the car with my blanket over me and my hands were shaking. Luke looked over at me when I shouted and noticed the state of me and slowed the car down to under the speed limit.

'Grace, I'm –' He said ever so softly but I shook my head.

'Don't bother,' I sighed, curling up and closing me eyes, pretending to be asleep but knowing there was no chance when I was still panicking about the speeding, my parents death and Luke's aggressive outburst.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-\\-\\-\\-\\-\\-\\-\\-\\-\

Hi!

Do you like this so far? And Luke and Grace? And the story line? What do you want to see? I don't know if I should carry this on -please help me! =S


	12. Chapter 12

**Twelve**

 **Luke's POV**

I pissed off Grace – again.

That was my only thought after she fell asleep after the incident on the M4. I was furious that my own Dad thought so little of someone he would accuse Grace of all people of wanting me just for sex or fame. Using the Soulfinder excuse as a key to... I don't even know what she would have wanted from me apart from what we have now. I was so _pissed_ with my own Dad that I didn't even realise I was speeding and was at around 97 miles per hour weaving in and out of the traffic on the motorway. Grace lost it. She was so panicked, and she yelled at me, and I had no idea why. It was too late by the time I snuck under her shields and saw her remembering the police telling her that her parents died in a car accident. I slowed down, but by that point she was terrified, and annoyed, and pissed off, and fell asleep soon after.

She had been asleep for just over four hours now and we were minutes away from our place for the weekend to keep her away from my furious father but I knew neither of us had eaten. I looked over at Grace, who was curled up in a ball against the window, her hand resting near the car door handle like she wanted to escape. Escape away from me? Did I really mess up this badly?

I found a pub – one I remember going too when i was little for fish and chips. The owners knew me well, obviously, apart from the media outlet and always used to let us call up and order food and pick it up from the back door and never called the media on us. In return, we would recommend them when it was relevant and kept them in business. I turned into the car, parking up, turning the engine off and looking back at Grace.

I didn't deserve her. She was pure and beautiful. Even in her sleep, her mouth was open slightly and her hair was everywhere but she still looked like a small fairy. She had taught me so much in the last month we had been together that I don't know how I could have lived without her. She was just so... fragile? Every morning, I wake up at four. It was just a habit. Every morning, she would be lying on my shoulder, her hand on my chest – it was like she belonged there. In return, I used to always hug her close too scared to let her out my sights. But now, well, now I messed it up.

I leant across the car and kissed her cheek softly.

'I'm sorry Grace,' I whispered to her. 'I'm so sorry,'

I then got out the car, locking it only once so if she wakes up she could leave the car, but no one could get in. I stuck the hood of my jacket up and shoved on a pair of sunglasses before walking into the front of the pub. It wasn't too busy and I found a space next to the bar hatch. I stood there for a few seconds and the bartender came up to me.

'What can I get ya?' He asked with a thick Cornish accent.

'Is the owner in?' I asked.

'Yar, he's upstairs – do you need him?' He asked.

'Yes, please, just tell him the new guy is here,' I asked and the bartended nodded.

'One minute,' He said, leaving out the back.

I surveyed the bar to see families eating meals on the table, kids happily laughing and couplrs sitting next to each other and I felt sick.

'He's over here,' The bartender said.

'Can I help you? We don't have any new guys starting,' The guy who stood in front of me was the son of the man I knew when I was a kid myself. Damien, the manager I knew, handed the business onto his son, Nick, who must have been late twenties or early thirties.

'Can we go out the back for a second?' I asked, and Nick frowned at me but something told him to let me out the back and he opened the hatch, gesturing for me to come through. I straightened up my posture – I was over six foot which was quite an indication in a small town like this, before walking on through and out the door he stood by. I waited for Nick to walk past me and into a small room down the corridor of the pub and to one side. It was like a small living room; TV in one corner and two settees and two dining chairs around a small table, and a high seat.

'So, can I help you?' Nick asked me, crossing his arms. Maybe he didn't know who I was there. I quickly took down my hood and my glasses and saw the realisation hit Nick.

'Remember me?' I asked him.

'Oh, shit,' He then bowed.

'Don't do that,' I sighed going up to him and hugging him slightly. 'It's just wrong when you do that?'

'Why are you here? You're meant to be up in London?' Nick asked me. 'Sit, Luke,' He said nodding to the settee.

'I can't stay for too long, I've got someone in the car waiting for me. She's... er... she's asleep at the moment,' I said, sinking into the settee.

'She?' Nick asked.

'Security,' I added and Nick frowned.

'Security who takes naps on the job?'

I wanted to scream, tell him that Grace isn't just a security guard but something much, much more. That she was my girlfriend, the person who meant the world to me but I couldn't. We weren't close, me and Nick, but we used to always text and call when we were younger, and now it was the odd message here and there but we still spoke so he wasn't completely shocked that the Prince just rocked up into his house. But we weren't close enough to consider even telling him about Grace.

'She's ill,' I said and he just looked a bit more confused.

'You willing to be nice to ill people and go out your way and do the job? Is this security guard your girlfriend too?' Nick asked me and I knew he could tell lies and emotions much like Theo – they were all Savant's too.

I heard a knock at the door and someone came in.

'Nick, is everything okay?' A woman came around the corner carrying a car seat. She looked over at her – I looked over at her finger – husband in the corner of the settee before looking at me. I could see her trying to place who I was before she realised. She placed the car seat on the floor and I saw a tiny baby asleep inside. I smiled softly.

'Oh my God – it's the Prince,' She asked shocked.

'Tara,' Nick said softly and I smiled softly.

'Hey, I prefer Luke but,' I joked.

'Oh my God,' She said back towards Nick.

'I told you I knew the Prince's when we met,' Nick said trying to be subtle. 'Luke, this is Tara and our son... Theo,' He said and I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. 'Not named after your brother, no, how is Theo your brother-not-my-son,'

'Theo my-brother-not-your-son is doing alright, I guess,' I said.

'His girlfriend – the model one?'

'They broke up,' I said as Tara stood there staring at me in shock. I looked down at their son. 'He's adorable,' I got up walking over towards baby Theo. I knelt down and gently touched his cheek as Theo watched me, before grinning at me and my heart melted. One day I really did want my own child but I wouldn't even talk to her about the future, too scared about my father's reaction which drove me down here to start with.

'Why are you here, Luke?' Nick asked, getting up as I continued to play with Theo, finding a toy for him and wiggling it for him as he giggled.

'Brief holiday,'

'Tara said your Soulfinder is in the car asleep, ill, and you're down here because your Dad didn't approve of her not being royalty so you came down here to let him calm down?' Nick said and I looked up for a second before looking up at Tara.

'I like you,' I told her before turning to Nick. 'Yeah, she's in the car. But she is security too, to be fair, I wasn't lying,'

'Why are you here is she's in the car,'

'Remember what you did for Mum and Dad? I was wondering if you could do it for me too – Dad doesn't know where we've gone and I would like to keep it that way, for Grace's sake,' I told Nick and he nodded, his brown hair that isn't quite gelled back.

'Of course, have you had anything to eat yet?' He asked, 'It's pretty late,'

I checked the clock and it was half ten.

'God, I am so sorry, I didn't even realise the time, I didn't wake him up – did I?' I asked, tiggling Theo's tummy as he giggled back.

'No,' Tara replied.

'I'll get the kitchen to make you some fish and chips – some for your girl too? Grace, was it?' I nodded. 'Will I meet your sleep security Soulfinder anytime soon?'

'Probably tomorrow of you don't mind?'

'Of course not,' Tara said, finally clicking something together. 'You should go back and check on her,'

'Thank you,'

'Are you sitting in the car park?' Nick asked, on his phone texting the kitchen.

'Yeah, it's a red Corsa,' I retorted.

'I'll drop it in there, go and find your girl,' Nick said, 'Go out the back,'

I tiggled Theo one last time and he giggled back. I stood up, my back clicking slightly as I got up.

'Thanks for this, Nick, I'll explain it properly tomorrow,' I said and he nodded, hugging me again.

'That's alright, Princey, you owe me an explanation,' Nick said before walking out the room. I went over to Tara and held my arms out gesturing for a hug too. She hugged me softly in reply.

'Sorry if this is a bit weird for you,' I said to her.

'It's not weird,'

'You're a bad liar, Tara,' I joked and she smiled. 'Bye, Theo,' I said to the baby before showing myself out to my car. It was a bit of a walk in the dark to find my way back to the Corsa in the car parked but as I got a few feet away from the car, I saw the door to the passenger side where Grace sat flung open and Grace was missing.

I still don't quite know if I should finish this or not, all depends if you like it, but i had this laying around and thought I should put it up if you decide i should stop. It's all up to you I love writing it and I love Grace and Luke but I dunno if you all like it :/


	13. Chapter 13

**Thirteen**

I woke up curled in a ball in the corner of the passenger seat, my hand on the interior door handle like I wanted to escape from the car that Luke sent flying down the motorway earlier, nearly reaching three digits on the speedometer. He apologised and I knew he did feel bad – really bad – but by that point I was already in a state of panic and there was two options for me – to either break down, or fall asleep. My illness, this dumb cold I have, made it very easy for the latter to happen. But now, the car had stopped and Luke wasn't in the car. I gently rubbed my eyes slightly and tried to frown in the dark to see what was in front of me but only made out bits of it thanks to the lighting.

It looked to be a pub of some kind – it had quite a funny shape to it like it was once a giant house and been converted into a pub, takeout, probably restaurant and a house upstairs too. The outside was painted white but had blue waves painted on, very minimalistic but also very pretty. There were a handful of cars in the car park but none where Luke parked, completely out the way and to the side of the car park. I looked around the rest of the outside world and could see the cliff edge dimly lit by solar lights and just past that, the ocean sat calmly.

But where was Luke?

No – I felt way too ill to even attempt telepathy and it was so stuffy in this car. I pulled the door handle in hope and sure enough it popped open. I undid my belt, letting it slide back normally before climbing out. I only had time to run to the side of the car park and vomit yet again. It was just the snacks we had in the car, but I still hated every second of it. I knew there was no chance of me being pregnant, certain monthly events had happened a week or two back to show me that pregnancy wasn't even considered in this dilemma. Also, I was put on the oral contraceptive pill so no chance. Food poisoning or a winter illness was more likely – I was under a lot of stress therefore lowering my immune system and making it a lot easier for me to get ill. Perfect.

I stumbled back to the car, pulling out my phone from the car door to see several texts; two from my brother asking how it went telling Luke's Dad, and when I didn't reply to that he asked me to call him but I didn't want to speak to him at the moment. Almost as if he sense that thought, there was another text through from him.

 _'Sorry I couldn't be there for you, little sis, I know you might not want to talk to me tonight and that's okay, just remember I love you to pieces and I still want you to come around for dinner with Prince fancy pants on your way back from Cornwall. I'm making my World famous spicy chicken Xx,'_

I smiled softly, unable to not reply to Jack.

 _'It went shit, we've made it down to Cornwall and at some point I fell asleep. Luke's gone to pee, I think, but we'll work it out. I hope. If not, you might have me sleeping on your sofa and eating all your spicy chicken xx,'_ I sent back and took a deep breath of sea air and I felt slightly better. Sea air always helped with my asthma and it made me feel a bit more... alive.

 _'Gah, sorry to hear that Gracie but I'm sure it will all work itself out in time. You deserve him, even though I will kick his ass over spicy chicken and give him the big brother talk, but you deserve after all of this time to be happy. I doubt Luke will leave your side, so it might be both of you on my sofa. Call me at any time xx,'_ Jack replied and I smiled, tearing up. I didn't deserve a brother to be so caring for me.

There was another text waiting; I had a few from friends that I will reply to later or tomorrow saying I fell asleep – not that any of them know about myself and Luke, it's been a dirty secret between us, but the text was from Theo.

 _Hey sis, sorry today didn't go the way we all hoped it was. We're in the process of talking to Dad about it and he doesn't seem to happy so I think where you are is the best place for both of you, when you come back Monday evening, text me as you reach the gates and I'll let you in and escort you back to your room. I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but I'm sure with time he will get over his prejudices. It's not you personally he's not happy with, it's your status. Anyway, Mum is talking to him now about it and we're calling it a night. Sorry again Grace, make sure my brother looks after you, and can you look after him too for us? Theo x_

Not a text I would have predicted getting from the crown Prince of the state but all kinds of odd things were happening in my life after my university graduation. I didn't notice the colloquial use of the term "sis" in the beginning of the text. I knew he referred to me once or twice as being "practically his sister" and we were growing close, but he referred it to me to my face. But it wasn't the good news we were hoping for. Edward was throwing a sulk about it, which I knew he was, and everyone was so worried about it that Theo offered to escort us back to our room on Monday night.

 _Thanks, Theo, sorry for being a pain in the arse x_ I replied back sweetly and he shot his answer back to me.

 _You're not a pain in the arse; I know you would do it for me if it was the other way around. You're part of the family now. I'm assuming you got down there okay? Luke hasn't text me or Mum yet like he said? X_

Why didn't Luke text anyone? There was a slight bead of panic building that something bad had happened to him.

 _We're... somewhere. I fell asleep most of the journey down here past the M4 so I honestly don't know where I am. We're by a pub of some sort opposite a beach – white building with waves on? Luke said you guys went down here a lot when you were kids so it might ring a bell? I've only just got up and he left me in the car alone and I don't know where he is. X_

There were a few moments where there was no text so I assumed Theo was looking on his laptop for the place I briefly describe but I got back out the car, leaving the door opened and wandered around slightly, the gravel crunching under my foot satisfyingly. Deciding that sitting was better than standing, I slunked down behind the car, my head leaning on the back end of the car. My phone vibrated.

 _Yeah, it's where you are meant to be staying – well, the place Mum booked is about two minutes away just over the hill that's in front of the pub. The owners of that place, well, I think it's now the sons of the owners, knew us quite well when we were all kids – we used to play with their kids when we went down there and so on – and they always used to give us food and not call the media on us in return for the odd bit of advertisement. He's probably gone in there to see if they're willing to do the same thing for both you too. Having you and Luke in the public eye will be rubbing salt into fathers already gashing wound and we can probably do without that. If he's not out soon, text me, and if he is, tell him to text I and I want to speak to him about his speeding earlier. Thanks, Grace, and keep it together. This will work out – that I can promise. X_

I dropped my phone into my lap as I heard the crunching of gravel leading to the car and I held my breath, praying the bystander who was by the car now didn't either break into the car or find me back here as it would look like I am wasted. I heard someone inhale sharply.

'Grace?' Luke called. 'Grace!' He then shouted back.

'Dude, shut up,' I hissed back at him as his voice loudly broke the silence of the night. If that didn't send the media here hungry for Prince Luke on holiday, I don't quite know what will. Luke came storming around the outside of the car.

'You scared the shit out of me, Grace!' He said, offering me his hand to haul myself up.

'You scared the shit out of _me!_ I woke up and you were gone and then Theo text me asking if we had made it down here as you never text them!' I barely finished my sentence before he stepped forward, pushing him lips against me, his arm moving around my waist to hold me up as I nearly melted into him. My knees had completely gone. He pulled away, but he kept me close with the lower half of my body pressed against him, his arms looped around my waist.

'I'm so sorry for earlier, Grace, I know what I did was wrong and I can't explain it, but, you're the best thing to ever happen to me, and I mean that in a heavy way. You are my priority, my number one without a shadow of a doubt, and just seeing someone I love slate you off like that got to me. But I love you to pieces. Please, please forgive me,' Luke whispered still keeping me close to him.

'You know why I hate people speeding, Luke,' I whispered with my voice breaking and he nodded at me before kissing my forehead. 'I forgive you but please don't ever do that to me again,' I asked him and he hugged me tight.

'I promise you,' He replied.

'Theo is also going to have a go at you for it,' I added.

'Doesn't surprise me.' Luke said sweetly before kissing me again. He smiled softly at me.

'So, where are we?' I asked.

'About half an hour away from Newquay – Combe Bay, it's very quiet and there's no tourists with just a handful of locals, we've come down here for years. One of Mum's friends knows the person who owns the bungalow where we're staying so we get first dibs on it, and it's down a country road and a few minutes from a nearly empty beach and we don't even need security down here,' Luke explained and I nodded.

'You did mention all of that, I meant where are we,' I pointed to the pub, 'You better not be drinking and driving too,' I gasped and he kissed me quickly, cutting off that thought and I snuggled against his chest. There wasn't a smell of alcohol on him and I knew he wouldn't do that. The speeding, even though it destroyed me, was an accident from anger and once he realised the mistake he stopped it immediately. I wasn't happy with it, but the way he reacted I knew it was a pure mistake and I knew he wouldn't do it again.

'Mum and Dad knew the owner, they used to cook us food and deliver it to us without calling the paps. It's rare finding people like that, I knew their kids quite well and now one of them owns the place. I went to see if he was okay to do the same thing for me and you. He's bringing us food out in a second,' Luke said. 'How are you feeling?'

'Better?'

'Even though you threw up?' He asked me and I looked up at him where he was frowning down at me. He must have read my thought and I shrugged.

'I feel fine,'

'Might be getting better, then,' Luke said softly, playing with my hair.

'Luke,' Someone called and I jumped slightly, flinching back. Luke looked up and smiled slightly.

'It's okay,' Luke whispered to me and hugged me to his side as a man came down the stairs leading towards the car – he was normal height, around five foot nine, brown gelled hair in jeans and a shirt and was somewhat cute. 'We're over here, Nick,' Luke replied back and he walked over towards us, carrying two large plastic bags. We came over to us, noting Luke and then noticing me, curled up into him. He moved the bag into his other hand and offered me his hand.

'You must be Grace, right?' He asked and I shook his hand but looked up to Luke to reply.

'Yeah,' Luke replied and Nick shook my hand.

'Nice to meet you, but I'm sure you're shattered. I made you both fish and chips, there is some beans in there too and a drink. Also, some chicken nuggets. I know you like chicken nuggets,' He addressed it to me and I smiled.

'Thanks,' I said and he smiled back at me softly, like he knew I was struggling to speak to him. Luke took the bag from his hands.

'Do you wanna come over for a few hours tomorrow? Theo likes you,' Nick told Luke and I frowned. Theo? Of course he likes his brother.

'You want us to babysit?' Luke mocked.

'Maybe,' Nick joked.

'We'll come over at some point,' Luke told him, 'Anyway, thanks for this,' He held up the bags an Nick nodded.

'I'm going inside, it's way too cold, see you tomorrow Grace, Luke,' He said, hitting his arm as Luke grinned. We saw Nick leave the area, back up the stairs and into his business and home. Luke smiled softly at me.

'Shall we go, then?' Luke asked and I nodded as he unlocked the car and climbed in leaving the food in the back seat. I walked around my side of the car, opened the door but hesitated as I looked across the cliff – I could make out someone dressed in black watching us. I frowned, going to grab my phone to turn the torch on, but the person noticed us and walked away back into a car. My heart rate increased ten fold.

Who was watching us?


	14. Chapter 14

**Fourteen**

The place we had was absolutely stunning; it was a slate and brick bungalow in the middle of nowhere, with views of the clear coastline. There were four bedrooms; three doubles and a twin single and Luke explained how he and Theo had their own rooms when they were kids and his parents would share and the twin singles were for the constant rotation of security. The lounge, too, was huge, with three sofas around a small coffee table with coasters which viewed a moderate sized television. It leads onto a stunning dining room with a ceiling made from glass which viewed the night sky perfectly. The kitchen was of a good size, too, and Luke was in there at the moment dishing up our takeout food, and there was two bathrooms too – one with a power shower and the other with a Jacuzzi bath.

'You still awake, Grace?' Luke called from the kitchen and I nodded, before realising he couldn't see me. I was texting Theo and he was giving me up to date real time information about what was happening. Currently, His Royal Highness King Edward was sitting on Google trying to find a Princess that looked like me and I was starting to believe that Luke would be better off without me but have his family than the other way around.

'I'm up,' I said, getting up and stretching. He came out of the kitchen holding who plates full of food and a bottle of Coke. Two glasses were following him in the air. He had changed into his attempt of pyjamas – a pair on jogging bottoms with the crest on the front and a thin navy shirt that hung very nicely to his body.

'Sit down then,' He said and I knew he was keeping it together for my sake. I made my way to the chair he gesture to, kicking it out for me. He put a plate in front of me, before pulling a chair and sitting beside me.

'Isn't it normal for people to, you know, sit opposite you?' I asked him and he grinned.

'Then we won't be close,' He said, eating a chip. He picked one off my late and held it my face and I frowned at him. 'I will sit here and force feed you if you're not careful,' I bit into the chip.

'You must be tired,' I asked him and he shrugged.

'A bit,' He told me honestly.

'This, then bed?' I said, nodding to the food and he agreed. There was a moment's hesitation as we ate for a bit and we looked up at each other at the same time.

'What are you going to do after your contract for us is up?' Luke asked me and I knew it was worrying him. In three months, my contract working for Buckingham Palace will be up for renewal and at the current stance, there was literally no hope of me being kept on, which meant me getting my own place not in London and doing other work somehow. I could tell it was worrying Luke as I told him the first thing I would do is get out of London – and he had never lived outside London. He hadn't even moved out yet.

'I don't know anymore, Luke,' I whispered to him and he nodded.

'Can we agree where ever you go, I go?' He replied back to me. 'I don't want to lose you,'

'But, your parents,' I sighed.

'My Dad,' He corrected, 'I'm sure he will overcome it within his own time, and as the throne is technically my Mum's side she had to be the one to take my title away from me and she won't do that, she made the promise ages ago when I was like twelve, if this situation ever happened. She told me again when I told her about you. But,' Luke said and I took a juddery breath in.

'But?'

'You'd have to become a princess,' He said, pulling a slight face and I laughed in his face. Literally, laughed _in his face_ before realising he wasn't joking.

'You're funny,' I said hoping he was joking but his face was serious.

'I'm not joking, Grace, it would be a logical step to take. Marrying a Prince would make you a...'

'Luke come on - this is me we are on about, I still don't know how to use a knife and fork properly – like what bit do you scoop with and how do people cut meat so nice, that kinda thing – let alone do Princessy crap and you guys eat with like nine thousand forks,' I joked and he smiled slightly.

'I can teach you the etiquette, not that I understand it myself,' Luke said but I realised this would all happen if Luke wasn't royally rejected from his family and according to Theo, it might be possible. Or, his Dad will simply force him to marry someone else and I will be living in a small town on my own with only the fading memories of Luke.

'We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it, we have a long way to go until then,' I told Luke and he nodded at me, but I knew he was annoyed I didn't just accept what he said without any questions but, I mean, come on. It didn't even sound realistic.

'What do you want to do with your life?' I asked him, and I was shocked I never asked him before. I thought being a Prince was a full time job but I knew exactly how much spare time he had by the amount of time he spent sitting around bugging me. There was nothing in the media about any job he had prior to joining the army and fighting for his country and he's still on medical leave from the two injuries but that would only be or another few weeks, at three months he could go back to work.

'Please don't laugh, alright?' Luke said and I turned on my chair frowning – he was suddenly really serious. I nodded and he found my hand, squeezing it. 'A lot of people don't know this, but when I was eighteen I went to university and completed my first and second year and postponed the rest when I joined the army,' Luke said and I raised my eyebrows – what was he on about? I knew he was only abroad for two and a bit months before his injury, which was only a few weeks before I rocked up, but never had I heard of him going to university.

'What course did you do? Why have you never told me this?' I asked him.

'I was scared you would judge me, I know it's stupid but all I've got for it was people mocking me because it wasn't a good "Royal" subject, it wasn't law or politics or something, the stuff the Lord's do to show off their money.' Luke told me.

'What course did you do?' I repeated.

He looked down at his socks, wiggling his toes, but didn't make eye contact with me. 'Paramedical science,' He muttered and my mouth dropped – he wanted to be a paramedic? 'I've always wanted to make a difference to other people, try and save others lives when I could so I did the whole UCAS thing without my parents knowing, got accepted at Bournemouth, told my parents and they weren't overly happy, they wanted a subject like Law or something good to brag about to others – not paramedical sciences, and at Bournemouth? Could have gone to Oxbridge and been a fancy ass snob kid,' I pushed my lips too – I went to Cambridge, which is one half of Oxbridge – did he think I was a fancy ass snob kid? I didn't get it because my parents had money, or I was famous, but rather my gift aided me completely. I cheated my way into university.

He realised his mistake when he overheard the comment in my brain, 'No, I didn't mean it like that Grace, I meant like it's no secret that the Lord and extended Royals pay massively to get their kids into Oxbridge, five to six figure brides, I didn't want to be known as the kid who got his degree because of wealth or status,' Luke said and I nodded. 'But I said this is what I want to do, it was only going down there for a few hours three times a week and then working and no one was happy because security had to drive me down there and wait in the lecture theatres with me, and when I did the practical work they couldn't keep an eye on me and so on, but I passed my first year and my second year with a first but I wanted something more. I wanted, well, I wanted you Grace,' He said smiling at me.

'I spent aged trying to find you, and I went to war to try and clear my brain of any thought of my beautiful Soulfinder but guess what – that didn't work. Got injured, came back, weird shit was happening at home and the next thing I know, you were sitting there with Mum and I just knew it was you. You were my everything. So I guess, what I'm trying to say is, I want to go and finish my degree and become a paramedic,' Luke said shyly and he looked down embarrassed.

'Do it,' I whispered and he looked up at me.

'You're... okay with it?'

'Hell yeah, go live your dreams. Be the best paramedic there is.' I told him and he kissed me gently.

'I always got shut down for wanting to do it from family, and family friends, and so on, I just assumed you would do the same thing, it became ritual,' He sounded incredibly sad. It's true; no Prince that I was aware of had a day job such as being a paramedic and it was unorthodox however, why should a status get in the way of homes and dreams.

'I know what it's like to constantly have your ambitions being shut down and I know how much it sucks, I wouldn't do that to you but I honestly believe you have it in you to become an incredible paramedic,' I said and me grinned at me.

'What about you, then, what do you want to do?' Luke asked me, eating another chip and I sighed.

'I dunno, I took my degree because I loved the subject but I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't even know what my parents did for day jobs until this all happened. You can imagine how shocked I was when MI5 crashed my graduation when I went to go and pee,' I told him and he laughed gently.

'We took everything very far when we first met, didn't we?' Luke said and I nodded. Oh yeah, we had gone from not knowing each other at all well – him only knowing me through my parents, and me only knowing him from, well, the media and the fact he was third in line for the throne and, if Theo gave up the throne at any point, Luke might be the future King of England. I tried not to laugh at the thought. But we went from not knowing each other to sleeping with each other on the exact same day.

'But we have been very sensible for the last three weeks,' I told him and he nodded. We were sensible for a variety of reasons. After the first week had passed and we realised that this was more than just a fling, we both calmed down and started acting more like a couple. It was done without many conversations, but he started acting more like a gentleman. He brought me flowers, and sent me Millie's cookies – quite possibly the best cookies out there (even though it was leaked into the media as he went to go pick up the box of 48 cookies, but the papers just showed his cheeky grin and he made a joke with the lady in the shop they were for his brother as he lost a dare, which Theo agreed to go along with) and he also asked if it was okay to kiss, and to sleep in the same bed. He ordered my pyjamas as a joke as I complained about always being cold whenever I fell asleep in shorts and a shirt – my attempt at nightwear – but more often than not both Luke and myself ended up sleeping in underwear.

The other reason was two days after the Ball where Luke and I made it official, sort of, I went back to my home town and down to the sexual health clinic to change my oral contraceptive pills as the other ones I used to be on gave me really bad headaches. They done it and told me it was fine just to swap them over immediately but for the first month of use, be super careful. There was a two day gap, though, before I was able to swap them over when the kind blood waterfall that females deal with greeted me with open arms. And since then, Luke and I had been extremely careful.

'I'm trying to make it up to you,' Luke said softly.

'You don't need to make anything up,' I added.

'You've practically gave up your entire life to come to work at home, and that is incredible. You haven't even told anyone about us to try and keep me safe. You've saved my ass so many times in the last month it's incredible and now you're ill because you're working too hard, believe me, I need to make it up to you,' He leaned forward and kissed me softly.

'I can hardly tell my friends about you,' I sighed. 'They'd never believe me to begin with,'

'Skype them, now, then, when I'm here. If we don't want this to be a secret, no better time than to get it out in the open,' Luke said.

An hour later, I had managed to contact both of my university friends, Sara and Mycelia, and persuaded them to come into a three way Skype conversation. We had a group chat all three of us spoke in regularly so it wasn't too hard, but now as I was waiting to be added into the conversation I panicked. I had told them nothing. Luke sat at the head of the table, whilst I was two chairs down and to the side of him, but he smiled at me warmly.

'You are allowed to tell them about your job, too,' Luke said to me softly, sipping his tea.

'Grace!' Sara shouted as the Skype call finally connected. I smiled shyly.

'Hey,' I muttered.

'I thought you had been abducted, Grace, where have you been! Your job must be keeping you busy!' Mycelia lectured me from the new room in her apartment she could afford on some incredibly well paid graduate job she acquired a days after applying for it.

'I've been working, but I, er, I need to tell you both something. You won't believe it but hear me out,' I said and looked over at Luke, who sat there still smiling but he nodded. I nodded back and he gestured for me to take a deep breath.

'Right,' Sara said, realising I was being deadly serious.

'Okay, so, at graduation when I was in the loos for an awful long time and I said I just felt ill, that was a lie. I have lied to you a lot but you'll understand why later but I know it doesn't mean anything. Someone came up to me and spoke to me, offering me a job. He knew my parents, and told me my parents had worked for this same, business shall we say, for years and they wanted me to join them too. I was sceptical but they told me they had a job lined up for me, and there were bonuses included like all of our tuition fees being paid off and Jack's training course paid for and so on,' I said and the girls looked at me. They had assumed it was me paying off their fees. Well, I told them it was me paying off their fees from the inheritance I gained as a thank you, but hey ho. 'This is where it gets weird,' I warned them.

'Weirder than it already is, because I'm struggling to keep up as it is,' Mycelia told me bluntly. I looked over at Luke, who saw me panicking, and he stood up and came over to me slowly, sitting on the chair beside me to hold my hand, gently rubbing my thumb. It wasn't on webcam but it gave me support.

'The job was MI5 and I didn't believe it either, but I went along with it, signed the paperwork did the tests and so on, and I got told I would be staying in residence at this place for 4 months whilst I complete out the case. I can't tell you the case, but it was at Buckingham Palace,' I took a shuddering breath.

'Right,' Sara said. 'I'm finding this hard to believe, Grace,' She told me honestly and I shrugged. Other way around, I would find it hard too.

'Okay, hold on though. Er, should I just put it bluntly?' I asked Luke and the girls frowned wondering who I was talking too.

'Yeah,' He said softly to me.

'Who was that?' Mycelia asked, both of them trying to move around to see him even though that was now how webcams worked.

'Well, my boyfriend I guess,' I said shyly.

'Bit more confidence, Grace,' Luke said again.

'Your ... boyfriend?' Sara asked. 'You've kept a secret boyfriend from us?'

'Yeah,' I said, nodding.

'Right, who is this guy?' Mycelia asked with a question in her eyes. She was a Savant and she was clearly wondering if he was my Soulfinder.

'Well, I guess you'd call him my other half,' I said and directed it to Mycelia, as we both had code. We were very subtle about us both being Savants so we used the term "other half" when referring to "Soulfinder" and I wondered in Mycelia would pick up on it. I looked through my lashes and saw her mouth dropped, gawping at the screen. She did notice. 'Well, er,' I said.

'Spit it out, Grace,' Sara said.

'He's Prince Luke,' I said and Luke cringed slightly, hating hearing me say his title. I looked over at him and gave him a small smile as an apology. However, both of them just laughed like I was pranking them. I frowned at the screen. 'What?'

'Yeah, nice try Grace,' Mycelia snorted unladylike.

'You'll need to prove it to even attempt to get us to believe that story,' Sara said.

Annoyed, I just pushed my laptop back and changed the angle so you could see Luke sitting beside me. I mouthed "sorry" to him and he shrugged, leaning forward to kiss me very softly, just a brush of the lips, before he looked back at the camera. Both of the girls were now gawping.

'Ladies, nice to finally meet you. Grace has said a lot about you,' Luke spoke in the polite tone he had got from years of "royal" training.

'What,' Sara whispered.

'I get that reaction a lot,' Luke joked.

'Okay so I need to go, but text me when you get over the shock,' I said, before hanging up the Skype call, closing the webcam as Luke came over.

'Proud of you,' He whispered. 'That can't have been easy,'

I shook my head and he turned me on my chair to look at him, before kissing me passionately. We pulled apart a few minutes later, slightly out of breath and my legs wrapped around his waist, arms around his neck and Luke's arm around my back.

'I love you, Grace, and I'm not letting you go,'

My phone vibrated on the table but Luke and I had already moved on.

 _Do you all still like this? I don't know, I just feel like some people don't really like it no more. I promise it will start kicking off soon but, I don't know if I should get that far or just leave it here._


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: This is dedicated to Sabinethafangirl and the small group of Guest's who constantly review this - it means so much especially when I have been in and out of hospital and have wanted to give up on this, you lot have kept me going and given me something else to focus on, so I cannot thank you enough! :)**

 **Fifteen**

I woke up still tired in the double bed we shared last night. We stuck to our words and went to bed after our fish and chip dinner, and Luke fell asleep with swiftly thanks to the seven-hour drive, mainly from traffic, heading down here. I laid awake a tiny bit longer, the fear of losing my friends too much from the announcement I had done, but soon I too was asleep. Not for long – I woke up in the early hours of the morning feeling sick, the fish and chips and my cold or flu (still not entirely sure what it is) not mixing. I didn't throw up, though, which I took as progress and myself overcoming the virus, but I sat on the edge of the bed deep breathing, with my head spinning, feet feeling incredibly floating whilst my head was like an iron weight, my skin sweaty and tacky whilst I was freezing. I then worked up the courage to head to my bag, which was still in the living room, and find some cold medicine I had packed, and took two capsules with the flat Coke that was on the table. I checked my phone, seeing 48 Whatsapp messages from my group chat with my two friends, and four texts from Theo, and then 5 miscalls from a private number. I didn't check the Whatsapp messages, knowing it would be them talking about Luke and I didn't fancy it at three in the morning when I was shattered but I still checked my texts from Theo.

 _Sorry this has happened to you, Grace, even I didn't expect it to be this bad._ The first one said the usual kisses on the end.

 _Dad appears to have called it a night, though, but he's barely spoken to anyone. He's come out of his office, walked straight past me and Mum and headed down the corridor to who knows where. He doesn't seem too pissed off, though._

 _I realise you might be asleep._ He sent at half-past twelve in the morning, and the last text was at just gone one.

 _Good news for you, Tuesday morning, about four, he's flying over to America for some royalty business for a week and a bit, so you and Luke will be able to sort out some stuff over here. Tell him to call me when you both get up? One again, sorry, Grace, you don't deserve this xx_

I sighed contently and grinned. Providing we make it through Monday alive, we will be able to have near enough two weeks by ourselves to sort out everything. That was a success in itself, and Luke was getting intent on moving out of the Palace at the same time Theo does. A week and a half would be a long enough time to pack down our stuff and move into somewhere else, right?

 _Sorry to tear your family apart like this, Theo, if I knew what would happen to your family I wouldn't have..._ I said tearing up, but slightly shocked when it came through as read and the little bubbles popped up as he replied, despite taking a few minutes.

 _Don't be silly, Grace, I'm so happy for both you and my idiot brother. You, after what has happened in your past, you deserve to be happy and have something go right for you and if that is in the shape of my kid brother than that's perfect because deep down you both deserve each other and I'm sure when my narrow minded Father see's sense eventually, he will know that you are the best thing to happen to Luke. Everyone's noticed the change, even the press have noticed he's a lot happier now too and that's him trying to hide it. In fact, we should be thanking you for fixing Luke before it's too late and he became a miserable arsehole forever. Why are you up? Xx_ He text back and I grinned at the message, it filling me with hope.

 _It's too early for soppy messages like that, I'll cry again,_ I joked even though I was tearing up. _I didn't feel too well again, just got up to grab my medicine and head back to bed. Luke's asleep already xx_

 _When you're back, you're going to the doctors. I don't like how you're ill, it doesn't feel right xx_

 _Since when are you a doctor? Xx_ I joked back and thought if someone told me a few months ago that I would be having some joking banter with the crown prince of England, I would have laughed so hard I would have peed slightly.

 _Part of my gift, Grace, you're heading to the doctors on Tuesday. Night xx_

 _Night xx_

And I went back to bed after that, managing to fall asleep curled up into Luke's side like I normally do. Currently, Luke was still spark out in bed, his arm roughly around my back and tucked down into the waistband of the leggings I fell asleep in. I had begun to feel better in myself and felt less ill. The constant headache has turned into a mere thud every so often which could be treated by painkillers and the sick feeling had subsided which I put down to not eating for so long, and the fish and chips managed to fill me up without making me ill. I was near enough back to normal.

Apart from the knowledge I was tearing apart Luke's family, with his own father, hating my existence.

I got up, deciding on making breakfast for Luke. It had turned eight, and even though I was shattered, I knew I had to do something for Luke after all he had done for me. I crept into the kitchen, opening the fridge to see basic supply; milk, eggs and some scones. I sighed, before taking out both the milk and the eggs and walking over to the side, placing them down. A quick ransack of the cupboards found a bag of flour and basic seasoning and I decided to make some pancakes for Luke as we woke up. However, a handful of flour spilt down the front of me and I sighed knowing getting changed would wake him up and ruin the bed and breakfast surprise, and it's not like he's never seen me naked. So I whipped off my leggings and brushed as much off my shirt as I could and carried on cooking.

Luke surfaced before I made four pancakes and walked into the kitchen sleepily, rubbing his eyes and his hair everywhere. He smiled at me, and then smiled at my (lack of) clothing. He wandered over to hug me before realising I was cooking something and grinned.

'What we cooking?' He asked me, standing behind me, my body pushed against his as he swayed me slightly and he examined the mess I had made in the kitchen. It was pretty bad.

'You weren't meant to be up,' I sighed and looked up at him.

'You were gone,' He simply said.

'I was making you pancakes in bed,' I muttered, staring at the pancake in the pan. Luke kissed my forehead.

'Oh,' He said. 'You a flipper or a tosser? That sounds dodgy,' He joked.

'Flipper,' I said and he nodded.

'Example?' He said and I rolled my eyes, before taking the handle of the pan and gently moving it around before flipping it, nearly dropping it on the floor but saving it last minute. I turned around and Luke grinned at me, before kissing my cheek.

'Nice try Princess, but let me show you how it's done,' Luke said confidently and my heart fluttered at the pet name princess. Although, what he said last night, it might not be a pet name when our relationship because serious. Luke flipped the pancake, but it fell on the floor. I snorted.

'Alright, sweetheart, you're not meant to ruin breakfast,' I joked, putting the pan back on the stove as he picked up his ruined creation. He brushed off the hair and other crap from the floor and presented it to me and I pulled a face at him.

'My gift not good enough for you?' He joked as he threw the pancake in the bin telekinetically.

'When it contains other people's hair? Er,' I said and he kissed me again.

'It was romantic,' He mocked.

'You need to learn the definition of romantic,' I joked back. 'Normally its flowers, candle –' I went to continue but Luke cut my off mid-sentence with a sharp kiss – the kiss in itself was burning with passion as he held my waist tight, running his finger under the hem of my Victoria Secret underwear and my hand explored his bare chest. I pulled apart a few minutes later and he frowned at me. 'We're burning the pancakes,' I said and he frowned.

'Who needs pancakes, back to bed for us?'

'You still tired?' I asked him and he came over, leaning his head on my shoulder.

'Who said we'd be sleeping?' He said seductively.

I rolled my eyes at him dramatically and he gently kissed me, nibbling my lip and it promptly shut me up. Luke walked over, turned off the stove and grabbed a bite of a pancake before holding it out to me for a bite. I took a small nibble in the exact same place he ate from.

'You feeling better?'

'Yeah, getting there,' I said, stretching.

'Well enough to...' He asked and I raised an eyebrow.

'Are you constantly horny?' I asked him, leaning my head to one side and he laughed.

'You can't be saying that to me,' Luke joked, continuing to eat a pancake. My stomach didn't feel quite settled and Luke must have read my mind as he didn't offer me anymore.

'What, because you're Royalty? Sorry, His Royal Highness, Prince Luke,' I joked, bowing my head and Luke cringed and mocked shivered before turning to me, swallowing his mouthful of pancake. He had demolished the few I had made him before turning to me, coming over.

'No, but because you're just as bad as I am,' He said, kissing me hard as my legs wrapped around his waist and he carried me to the bedroom again.

 **Luke's POV**

Grace had slipped into the shower after we had sex and cuddled for a bit. It was reaching midday and I knew we were due to go down the pub and see Nick and his adorable baby again. I was excited to see little baby Theo again, to hopefully hold him. Just seeing him lying in his car seat which his mother used to bring him downstairs filled my heart up with joy – and I barely ever spoke to Nick. I spoke to him enough about Theo's birth, although I knew when he didn't have a name, and he never got back to me with a reply.

I don't blame him – running a pub is a full time around the clock job to start with, and trying to balance that with a new born baby? Completely don't blame him.

However, I did want my own baby one day. Not any time soon – I was unable to tell who would be more panicky, myself or Grace – but one day. I wanted the early morning wake up calls, the changing of nappies and the burping of the baby and the cuddles and the constantly playing. I'm sure Grace wanted something along those lines too but neither of us talked about it too much.

Thankfully Grace was extremely open about everything and went into full details when she got her period three weeks back before she changed the contraceptive pill she was on which allowed us to be slightly more reckless. She even was willing to answer really stupid questions I was too scared to ask when I was in school without judging me. Well, mild judging, but it was stuff I should have known, according to her.

It was then she causally brought up that I should have known it with "the string of ex-girlfriends" I had, and it was in such a way she seemed upset about it. We didn't talk anymore about my ex-girlfriends who I used just for show and to make my Father shut up about trying to get me married. I was never proud of what I done, and I knew with Grace it was completely the other way around. Even when Grace is a few meters away, but separated by a brick wall and a door, it hurt me. It was like I needed her around constantly.

I waited for the shower to start running, and the second it did I pulled out my phone and dialled up Theo. He picked up on the second ring.

'How is it going?' I asked.

'...Eh,' Was all Theo could say and my heart stopped.

'That bad?'

'It's better than yesterday, still not very good,' Theo said and I sighed. Anything would be better than yesterday. Declaring a war would have been better than yesterday. Telling me I was adopted would have been better.

'Well, this morning he was annoyed that you never showed up at breakfast and then realised you were gone, Mum and I pretended we didn't even know where you had gone, but then he started asking if he was being unreasonable and of course we were like "obviously," and Mum backed you up fully and said that he wouldn't be like this if it was the other way around and in fact he hadn't been when I was with Katherine so why was he being like this with you, and then he went very silent until the end. And then he started asking questions about Grace, but in more of a I-want-to-know-her rather than a I-completely-hate-her-so-I-want-to-slag-her-off way.' Theo said and I grinned.

'That's good, right?'

'It's getting there. He's gone out on Royal duties at the moment, and I have noticed he's booked you in to do some tours of Roman Catholic schools on Wednesday so he isn't completely disowning you, and he hasn't spoken to Kieran either about getting rid of Grace,' Theo told me and I sighed. We should be fine, then, if I have still got Royal things to do and Grace hasn't been immediately fired.

'Where is she?' Theo added on.

'Shower, she'll be finishing soon,'

'You're sneaking around her?'

'I don't want her to know! I don't want her to panic!'

'Mate, I have been texting her and keeping her up to date too, so you both need to stop being sneaky around this topic. You're in it together,' Theo said and I audibly sighed. 'Was she alright last night?'

'Last night?' I repeated.

'She got up about one-ish and texted me saying she felt crap and was taking some medicines – you didn't wake up and check on her, did you?' Theo realised.

'I had no idea,' I muttered – my poor girl.

'When you get back, make it a priority to take her to the doctors. I really don't like how she's feeling,' Theo told me and it made me panic. He has a secondary gift, after his ability to feel emotions, on being able to feel illness too. He could work out the common stuff, the cold, headaches, so on, but anything more developed he just got waves of how the person was feeling. And if he didn't like how Grace was feeling, it was cause for concern.

'I will do, it's gone on a bit too long as well,'

'And the medicines aren't doing anything either, it's probably a virus or something but at least we will know for certain,'

'Thanks, bro,' I said. 'Got to go, showers turned off,' I whispered.

'See you later,' Theo said and hung up as Grace opened the door, towel wrapped around her.

'Theo filled you in?' Grace said, walking in and my eyes scanned her body in seconds – the hem of the towel only just covered her butt and I had to bite my lip. She looked incredible, even with soaking hair and no makeup and no clothes (even better with no clothes) and the way she held the towel around her. I just rolled my eyes; of course Grace would know who I was on the phone too.

'Yeah,' I said.

'And?'

'Dad was asking question about you this morning, like he wanted to know more about you,' I said and Grace turned around, edging over slightly. I pulled her on my lap and she looked a bit shocked.

'Good stuff?'

'Good stuff, I think,' and she then straddled me and kissed me. The towel dropped and I tried to maintain eye contact as my hand was around her waist.

'Perfect, no need to worry today then,' She said as I gently kissed her neck.

'No need,' I said, working my way down.

 **Grace's POV**

Luke was on the phone to Mr. Pub Man who gave us food last night, discussing when is best to come around. The headache had returned somewhat and I was squinting against the light as Luke came back into the room. I had redressed in a pair of Mickey Mouse pyjamas, with fleece bottoms and a cotton top and Luke had placed me on the settee, with a mug of hot chocolate and a blanket. He gently smiled at me.

'They're in town at the moment, they'll be back around half four,' It was around one in afternoon. Luke sat himself down beside me, immediately putting his arm around my shoulder. 'Well what do you want to do until then?'

He gently kissed my forehead, his hand dropping to my waist and running his finger up and down my waist. I propped myself up and kissed him back. He was the one who deepened my kiss, his other hand gently cupping my face with the other hand lifting my shirt up slightly. After a few minutes, with Luke now on top of me, I broke apart the heated kiss.

'Disney Marathon?' I asked hopefully and Luke sighed dramatically, clearly expecting something else. I might have led him on a tiny bit.

'Maybe just one film,' I said and Luke took a moment to compose himself, before kissing the top of my nose and got up.

'Fine,'

'Thank you,' I said gently.

'Just because I love you to pieces,' He said, walking over to the DVD player and looking at the selection of DVD's that were here. He then picked one out, and put it in before standing back up again and grabbed my phone from the table.

'This has been going crazy,' Luke said, pulling off his shirt and placing it on the back of the chair. I shrugged. 'Probably your friends,' He said as he sat beside me.

'Eh,' I said, knowing I just wanted Luke.

'You have me,' Luke said, reading my mind, before he kissed me gently again. 'You also need your friends,' He gently gave my phone. The group chat between the three of us had gained around 100 messages.

 _Can't be arsed to read you two fangirling – anything important I missed?_ I simply said as Luke pressed play on the Disney Pixar film Up.

 _Grace, we're sorry for not believing you yesterday, but even you must admit it did seem unlikely. We were a bit annoyed you didn't talk to us for a month but now I'm sure you have a good reason. We need to catch up!_ Mycelia replied first.

 _Yeah you need to tell us everything,_ Sara added.

 _Depending on how things go, from Wednesday onwards I should be free._

'We've got that school thing Wednesday, sweetheart,' Luke said softly to me obviously reading the messages overhead.

'You want me to come with,' I asked him slightly shocked.

'Of course I do, you're my girlfriend and my Soulfinder, and my kickass security girl,' He joked.

 _Luke said not Wednesday though_ I added.

 _What about the weekend?_ I was asked.

 _That should be fine! Want me to drag Luke along or do you just want a girls meetup?_

 _Up to you!_ Mycelia said and I locked my phone and gently kissed Luke again.

'See, they took that well!' Luke said, kissing me softly again.

'Next challenge, my brother, and then we need to work on your Father,' I sighed – would this ever get any easier?


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Thank you to everyone who has commented on the previous chapter - the reason I go into hospital so much is because I have to have dialysis as for my kidneys, and this is really the only thing that keeps my mind off what is eventually going to happen in my future, so as you can imagine, so whenever I get a review it really does make my day and especially if it's a visit day, so thank you all so much!**

 **I don't know if I'll have another chapter ready before Christmas, but if I don't have a brilliant Christmas and a wonderful New Year! :) x**

 **Sixteen**

We headed down to Nick's pub when he text us he was home and it was only a minute or so in the car, and when I suggested walking Luke just sighed and told me being Royalty meant never walking anywhere. I then pointed out how often his face was on every single teenage magazine, social media site and on every news channel there is because he got bored and wandered out of the Palace, got on the tube and went shopping with mates I've yet to meet or even travelled out of London to go for a walk in a park somewhere completely random. Luke laughed and called me a royalty Fangirl as we pulled up.

I held Luke's hand as he guided me around the back of the pub, through a gate and another fence-like door into the courtyard and through a small entrance to a narrow hallway.

'Nick?' Luke called into the hallway but in a hushed tone and I assumed it was because the heaving pub was only a door or two away. I was surprised when a gentleman came down the stairs, with fluffy hair and a round face but slim body, and was holding a car seat in his hand.

'You must be Grace, finally nice to meet you properly,' Nick said to me, shaking my hand. 'I'm Nick, by the way,'

'Hi,' I said shyly and Luke frowned at me, never knowing my shy side.

'Tara's at some relatives so I've been given the joyful task of looking after Theo, sorry,' He addressed more to Luke.

'That's fine with us,' Luke said, gently touching Theo's cheek. Was the baby named after his brother or was it just a massive coincidence?

We sat in the living room for two hours, with Luke asking about Nick's entire family by the sound of it; his parents and what they are doing now, his siblings too. Nick had six siblings, three girls and three boys and he was the eldest. He went through and told us about every single one of them and I sat there nodding, not knowing who these people are, however, I knew the second youngest had gone through a divorce recently and got custody of the children, and the youngest one is now in his second year at university in Ireland. Nick then started asking about Luke and Theo and his parents and his friends and so on. I wasn't brought into conversation much and felt quite left out, and Luke must have realised this as he gently took my hand and held it tight, resting it on my knee. He also kept looking over and checking I was okay.

'How does Edward feel about Grace?' Nick asked softly and Luke looked at me – I resurfaced from my daydream when I realised my name was mentioned.

'Er, well, let's just say it's the reason we're down here in the first place,'

'He kicked you out?' Nick asked in shock.

'No, but he wasn't happy and you know what he's like when he wasn't happy. She's way too precious to risk,' Luke said and I frowned – what does he mean? Was he on about being violent? It made a lot more sense, the warnings between the brothers, Caroline telling me about Luke's sometimes violent tendencies and how he "must have got them from somewhere" and it wasn't her – Caroline is the softest butterfly you'll ever meet – and even the security meetings sometimes told us to focus on Edward if things go badly as he was prone to be "non-co-operative". Everything was pointing to Edward being an aggressive and violent individual. It made sense the over dramatics within the palace, that they sent us down here rather than try and resolve it.

'He's getting better, though, Theo called and said he was asking more questions about her and then was asking Mum if he was doing the right thing, so when we go back Monday morning hopefully we should be alright. He goes Tuesday anyway and we have two weeks to sort something out if he still doesn't like her,' Luke answered like I wasn't there.

'That sucks, Grace, you don't deserve that,' Nick said and I simply just shrugged. 'You wouldn't give up Luke, though, would you?'

'Of course not,' I whispered.

Nick smiled at me softly, and I felt a lot calmer sitting there. He opened his mouth to say something but his baby beat him to it, waking up from his nap and suddenly burst out crying. Nick sighed and Luke darted forward and sat on the floor next to the baby.

'You okay to look after him for a second whilst I get him a bottle?' Nick said.

'Sure, as long as it's a bottle of milk and not a bottle of beer,' Luke joked, gently rocking the car seat and Nick joked.

'He likes his beer, though,' Nick mumbled walking out the room as Luke gently picked him out of his car seat, holding him in his arms.

'What's wrong, little fella?' Luke asked gently to the screaming baby. However, he stopped screaming when Luke started to speak and grizzled instead, unable to take his eyes of Luke. 'You hungry, hey? You have been asleep for a very long time. Was Daddy talking to you about football again? I know, kills me off too,' He said to the infant and my heart absolutely melted. Luke was incredible with babies – he basically got Theo to stop crying in a few minutes with a gentle tone of voice and a weird bouncing action that you see parents doing, and even the way Luke looked at the little baby made my ovaries explode – it was such love and dedication even though he had never met Theo before.

It was a natural instinct to him to be a caring figure and to nurture children. I had seen the press releases on him, as he went to a nursery group a few days before I joined the Palace – the group itself was fundraising to expand and buy new upgraded equipment and dealt with babies a few weeks old to five years. When he was walking around, there was a baby named Jac who wouldn't settle down and the nursery staff were so embarrassed that the press could see them not settling down this six weeks old baby, so Luke went over there, gently picked him up and calmed him down and then carried on with his visit, with the baby in his arms the entire way. The parents, who were there at the end of the visit to see Luke gently holding their newborn baby, Jac asleep at this point, were so stunned and were completely fine with it. They had even taken a picture which ended up in every newspaper since. It might be my favourite photo of Luke as he didn't know it was taken. He was in a navy blue suit, and this baby was in his arms looking so fragile in a white blanket and you could just see Luke grinning down on the child.

It was clear as anything he wanted a baby and I hoped, providing everything went okay until that point in the future (like, five years minimum future) we would want our own children. And he would still be as good as he was with children now because I'm pretty useless when it comes to newborn cousins or cousins having their own babies. They just cried and no matter what I did they didn't stop and I had to hand them back over again.

'He's adorable,' I said softly and Luke smiled down at Theo. But was I talking about the baby, or about Luke?

'He really is, you want to hold him?' Luke said.

'Nah, I'm terrible with children,' I said and Luke frowned.

'I'm sure you're not,'

'No, really,'

'Do you want to go and hug aunty Grace, little one?' Luke said and my heart flipped – aunty? Of course, we weren't related to the baby but the way Luke said that nearly caused me to have a heart attack. Theo made a cute little noise and Luke looked up at me, his big blue eyes going liquid and he knew it was enough to persuade me. 'See, even he says yes,' I got up and walked over to him, and Luke gently handed him over to me. Theo was a lot lighter than I expected, and Luke gently showed me how to hold him properly before Luke put his arm around my waist.

'See, he loves you,' Luke whispered in my ear which caused Goosebumps and Theo looked up at me, his cheeks red from crying. 'He's adorable,'

'He really is,' I whispered, moving my hand to gently tiggled his belly and he grabbed hold of my finger and I took a jagged breath. Nick walked back into the room shaking a bottle of milk.

'Right, you two are planning on kidnapping my son or Luke, you really want a child and you're giving Grace the bed eyes. Either way, stop it,' Nick joked and came over and handed me the bottle of milk to feed his son. I frowned at the comment, knowing the first one wasn't true and took a look up at Luke and there was a certain look he was giving me, his eyes shone and there was the slightest frown playing with his forehead, but there was something in that look I couldn't place.

When we left, we took a slight detour to head to a supermarket to buy some food that wasn't fish and chips which meant me doing the shopping whilst Luke sat in the back of the car, telling me telepathically what he wanted as I continued to wander up and down the aisles, no one giving me a second look. I wondered how long it would be like that – soon the press would find out and every movement of mine will be scrutinised – jeans are not a designer brand, socks are not plain but patterned, I brought semi-skimmed milk and not full skimmed or something stupid like that. I knew what the press was like. I was always taught not to believe the media at face value and if I was interested in an article to research it thoroughly myself to teach myself the bigger picture.

Like clockwork, Luke cooked dinner as he insisted I was to go and sleep even though I had felt so much better; the only thing that was still messing me around was my asthma, which had near enough cleared itself up with the sea air like it had done when I was a kid. Then we both curled up on the sofa and I fell asleep, and the next morning, I was in his arms in bed. I knew we were spending today down at the local beach and sure enough within two hours of waking up, both Luke and I were ready and heading down to the beach, both of us carrying a surfboard each, two bags containing picnic food, some precooked meat in a freezer bag to use with our disposable BBQ, and thrown over our shoulders were a few towels and a beach mat.

We both decided it would be easier to head down in swimwear with clothes in the bottom of our bags to change into as I had agreed to teach Luke to surf – which was ideal as there were practically no waves.

I dropped back to walk beside Luke and he sighed.

'What's up?' I asked him and he looked at me with an odd look.

'I was enjoying the view, I never saw you in a bikini,' Luke said grinning and I awkwardly hugged myself self-consciously. I owned only one bikini and my swimsuit was at Mycelia's as I forgot it in my pack to rush. However the bikini was the only thing I owned that I liked; it was brought from Victoria Secret's in the summer sale; it was a light blue colour that tied up on the right side and the neck, and the briefs that also tied on the side.

'Dude,' I joked.

'Honestly, Grace, you look incredible,' Luke said as we jogged down the stairs heading to the beach. Luke looked incredible as always too; his sculptured body and swimming shorts that sat on him just perfectly, tanned skin from time abroad and an air of confidence that told me he spent a lot of time without a shirt on (which I knew) but I didn't say anything.

The beach was short but beautiful; it was around 250 meters in width and only 100 odd in length with the tide out, and I knew with it in, there would only be around twenty-five meters left, so we placed down our bags near the cliff edge, both of us lying towels out before we looked at each other. Luke had a small smile on his lips.

'What?' I asked.

'You're just so beautiful,' He said and I rolled my eyes and he grinned at me. 'Race you down to the sea,' He said before running off.

I started sprinting after him with a grin on my face. I managed to overtake him, short distance running being my strong point, and I jumped into the water, and when it was deep enough dived under and swam until it just out of my depth and I was treading water. Luke was only a few second behind me and he swam behind me, pulling my leg to get me under water. I bobbed under, playing along, and he gently kissed me under the water before we both came back up again.

'God, you're quick,' He said, splashing me gently. I laughed gently.

'Or you're just really slow?' I proposed the alternative and he frowned.

'Doubt it,' He said, gently swimming closer to me and kissing.

'I thought you can't swim?' I asked.

'No, I can swim, I can't surf,' He corrected me, his hand finding mine under the water before he pulled me against him.

'You're a good swimmer considering your sheltered childhood,' I said, tilting my head.

'God, you really don't know about how I grew up,' He mocked, 'I did do the normal child things, Gracie, I did learn how to swim and I watched Disney films and I had picnics and played with my toy cars in the garden,' He said, tilting his head back at me.

'Did you ever fall down a tree?' I asked.

'Oh, that's all I ever did,' He said and I gently kissed him.

'I'll take it back then,' I said and he touched my nose before looking out across the bay. 'Race you to the big rock?' He said gesturing to the rock that must have been behind me. I turned around to find the rock he was on about – about three hundred meters away just inside out bay but out in the ocean. As I looked at the rock, Luke already started swimming beside me and I laughed gently, before darting back underwater knowing when I was at school, I came second in our swimming teams mid-distance lengths against the other schools in the county. I felt at home in the water, and sure enough not even half way there, I overtook Luke. I felt a hand on my ankle, pulling me back as he tried to overtake again but I leisurely swam past him and got to the rock about a minute before he did.

'Slacking. They need to improve Royalty swimming schedules,' I joked as I jumped up onto the rock and Luke continued to tread water in front of me. He grabbed hold of my ankle but rather than pulling me in like I expected.

'We're not all fish like you,' He joked, rubbing my leg gently as the faint beginnings of the wave gently pass us every few seconds. He looked up at me, his hands now on both of my knees and smiled softly. I didn't know what he was thinking, but whatever it was made him really happy. I blushed for no reason – his natural charm still having an effect on me like it did to everyone he met on "Royal duties" across the globe. I hadn't missed in my news article search for anything to help my case that media even fangirled over him and his lack-of-caring about anything. Pictures of him topless a few months previous during a heat wave in March provided enough proof, with even the harshest of media reports buzzing around him as he sat down for an hour and a half with about forty children under the age of the 10 and helped with a sandcastle competition. He had originally snuck out and caught the train to somewhere and then got a lift with his mates for a day down the beach and got sidetracked – all of his friends were also helping the kids with their sandcastles but it wasn't for the media play. He was genuine. He was doing it to help the children, and even helped sign the paperwork for the sandcastles with the kids and when the winner was announced – an elaborate sand castle of Buckingham Palace and his friends took the piss, he let the kids take all credit. He just had a natural air to him of charm, kids loved him, parents loved him, and teenage girls love him. I can't think of anyone who hates him. I love him.

I blushed and turned to the beach, which was completely deserted as to be expected, but there was someone on the cliff top. A few feet back from the edge and I frowned to make sure it was a person – and it was. We were around 250 meters from the cliff top but I could make out the person; dressed in black with a beanie hat, and a camera strung around his neck. As I looked, he lifted the camera up and then dropped it around his neck again.

'Luke, someone's up there, taking photos,' I said and Luke immediately looked up again. Sure enough, he took another photo.

'No one knows we're here, Grace, he must be just taking pictures of the coast. It is beautiful, like you,' Luke said softly and it calmed me slightly as I jumped back into the water, not wanting my body to be in his photos even if he was just taking pictures of the coast, and Luke kissed me softly.

But something was telling me there was something more sinister behind the photographer.


	17. Chapter 17

**Seventeen**

We headed home around three in the afternoon that Monday. Neither of us had brought loads of stuff with us down here, and we only had a few things we were bringing back, so it didn't take us long to pack down all of our stuff into Ruby. I sighed as we pulled away from the house, looking back at it longingly. It was a beautiful place and I hoped, one day, Luke would bring me back down here under better circumstances and we can view more of the town rather than a private beach and his mate's fish and chip pub.

I pulled out my phone and called my brother like he told me to do when we left so he knew roughly what time to put the food on for. Theo had text me saying his father had calmed down a lot since Luke told him, but still try and sneak in as late as possible and Jack was willing to house us until around midnight when he would head to bed in order to get up at 6 the morning after to head to work. Jack picked up on the second ring.

'You've left?' He asked me.

'Yeah, just now, we're leaving the town now. The SatNav says we'll be about four and a half hours but we'll be in the middle of the rush hour too,' I said and Luke put his hand on my knee and I knew he was scared however he wouldn't mention it. I tried to reassure him that my brother wouldn't hurt a fly, nor would his boyfriend, but he wasn't having it.

'Cool, I'll get dinner ready for nine then, Mark is coming over too after his shift but he should be here by the time you arrive.' Jack said nervously and I frowned.

'Are you nervous?' I asked and Luke looked over at me for a moment, frowning

'No,' Jack mumbled.

'You are! Why are you nervous,' I asked him back.

'Your boyfriend is Royalty, Grace, he's the Prince if you didn't notice or it just whooshed over your head. You're completely chill with it, but what the Hell do we do? Do we bow? I don't know what to expect and it's killing me off! I nearly cooked a bloody roast dinner and got out Mum and Dad's famous china they saved in case the Queen would come around, bet they're having a right old giggle up there now,' Jack gushed and I laughed and even Luke had a massive grin on his face.

'He heard all of that,' I said.

'Don't put me on speakerphone!'

'I haven't, you're being really loud!' I protested back. 'Treat him like you would treat any other boyfriend I would have, or had,' I said and Luke looked at me a bit oddly and I frowned back at him. Yeah, I knew all about his ex-girlfriends, the Victoria Secret models and the Oscar-winning actresses, he couldn't moan about my ex's.

'I can't murder him,' Jack sighed.

'Jack, sweetheart, we've been over this several times, you think you're terrifying to people but you're not, you're like a dressed up puppy. Just be normal for once, please, you know the drill with this one,' I said. The "drill" we were on about was when we found our Soulfinder's and introduced them to the family, that they won't embarrass us, them, or anyone else. You were on your best behaviour. I was like it when I first met Mark – even though we were a house on fire – but I wasn't entirely sure about how Jack will react to Luke, and vice versa.

'Fine,' He sighed.

'Love you, I'll see you later,' I said.

'Love you too, sis,' He said and hung up.

'Oh my God, I'm going to get murdered later,' Luke joked and I rolled my eyes.

'Like to see him try,' I sighed. Luke looked over at me for a second. 'Eyes on the road, please,' I said and he focused back on the road.

'I just can't get over how beautiful you are,' He said softly, and I knew he wasn't lying. I didn't see myself as beautiful or anything, but the tone Luke said it in. He's tried to lie to me before, and sure every time he did I felt ill or got a nosebleed, but he is the worst liar in the world and his tone gave it away. He genuinely thought so much of me and my stomach cramped with guilt – was I worth all of that?

We got to Jack's at around nine, only slowing down a bit during the rush hour traffic but by that point, we were on the motorways and they weren't running awfully. As soon as we peeled off the M4, I turned the SatNav of and started directing Luke from memory to Jack's house. I could tell Luke was feeling nervous, though, he remained silent and was tapping the steering wheel as we headed down the small streets leading to the road where my brother lived, and myself for a few months after our parent's death. Luke's hand found his way to mine, and I squeezed it gently.

'You're not scared?'

'Him and Mark aren't going to do anything, they're scared of you if anything,' I told him.

'Why would they be scared of me? Who's Mark?' Luke asked. 'Here?' I gestured down a road.

'Keep going a bit longer, Mark is Jack's boyfriend,' I said and Luke's eyebrows raised. 'Got an issue with that, Mr?' I asked.

'You didn't tell me I was meeting the other half as well, Grace!' He said and I exhaled, glad there was no homophobic comment or I might have had to leave him on that ground alone.

'I'm sure I did,'

'Don't think you did,' Luke said. 'Why are they scared of me?'

'Are you kidding?' I laughed.

'They're not scared of me just because...' He said.

'Down here, but yes, because you're a Prince,' Luke indicated before turning down the winding road that will eventually lead to Jack's small house. He sighed.

'It doesn't mean anything, though,'

'It doesn't change you who are,' I corrected, knowing it does mean something or we wouldn't have had to go on holiday for a few days in order to avoid his father soon after Luke told him about our relationship. 'Keep going until you reach a small car park thing, and park up,' I said and Luke nodded.

'It'll be fine,' I added as Luke looked terrified.

'I hope,'

'I haven't missed you dressing up, though,' I said with a small smile; Luke had worn some smart black chino type trousers and a button up shirt and had brought some wine with him whilst I was in a pair of black leggings and one of Luke's jumper, something super comfortable to travel in. Luke drove slowly into the end of the road, a large turning circle with parking for five on one side, four in front and a few private car parking to the left; there were two spaces free and Luke reversed into the first one, one that was right outside Jack's pathway to the house.

Luke turned off the engine and looked over at me. 'You ready?' He asked.

'Yeah, he's my brother, of course, I'm ready,' I said and gently took Luke's hand as he looked away from me tentatively. 'Luke, honestly, you'll be fine, alright, neither of them will hurt you or hate you, they both love you just for being here and being with me and helping me when I needed it, just be you. They won't make it awkward and I'll be on your side,' I said and Luke smiled at me, before gently kissing me.

'I love you, Grace,' He said softly.

'I love you too,' I replied, undoing my seatbelt and leaning to grab my rucksack in the back of the car as Luke got out and somehow made it to my side of the car and opened it for me. I climbed out, rolling my eyes and I elbowed him. I could see movement in the bedroom upstairs and I could only assume that both Jack and Mark were watching me from the window to see what was happening. I made it down the path, leading the way for Luke who followed behind me closely and barely knocked on the door as Jack opened it, pulling me into a hug.

'I thought we agreed you'd come back every month!' Jack said, lifting me off the floor.

'It's only been four weeks,' I said.

'Six,' He added, kissing my cheek.

'Sorry, been busy,' I added. _Please be nice, he's shitting it._ I added telepathically.

 _He should._ Jack added.

 _Jack! Don't!_ I said but he put me down, grinning at me and I knew he was only joking. I turned around to make sure Luke hadn't done a runner back to the car and sure enough, he stood behind me, wine in hand, and he gently smiled. I edged my way in, leaving my brother and my boyfriend in the doorway. Mark stood just inside the porch, their cat over his shoulder as the cat likes – what can I say; their cat is a weirdo – and hugged me. I had only known Mark for two years since I started university, but it had already felt like he was my older brother. Himself and my brother were each other's Soulfinder.

'Hey, Grace,' Mark said, hugging me close.

'How are you doing?' I asked.

'I'm okay,' I said, 'How is Jack?' I asked him.

'Er, he seems okay with it,' Mark said to me, knowing full well I was on about how he was with the idea of Luke rather than if my brother was actually okay, and I let go, turning back to the door as I heard it close. Jack walked back into the room and Luke followed and I watched as Mark's jaw dropped.

'Shit, Gracie, you didn't tell me your Soulfinder was the Prince of bloody England,' Mark said.

'I've had worse greetings,' Luke joked and I walked over to him and he immediately put his arm around me.

'Er, hi,' Mark said and bowed and I looked at Jack giving him a dirty look for making Luke feel so uncomfortable.

'He's just come home from work; I didn't have time to tell him!' Jack protested.

'You... knew?' Mark said to Jack and Jack went over and kissed him.

'I forgot to mention it,' Jack shrugged and I laughed under my breath as Luke looked down at me, slightly in shock and slightly in fear but he was getting there, bless him. I looked up and smiled at him and he smiled back, kissing me softly almost forgetting my brother was in the room. I looked back at them, and they were both watching me with a small smile on their face.

'So, food?' I asked.

'God, you're like a vulture,' Luke said and Jack and Mark grinned and I knew in that second, they'd get on like a house on fire.

We left Jack's place at half one in the morning after I had a bit too much to drink and was incredibly giggly and Luke had to constantly babysit me, and Jack and Mark had to call it a day as they both started at the hospital at 6. Luke, who had nothing alcoholic to drink, drove back and I kept laughing to myself. It was a long drive for Luke who had to keep an eye on me to make sure I didn't keep playing with the car fans as he focused on his way back to the Palace. Something about the car fans was just so hilarious. We ended up by the gates leading into the car park at three in the morning, and Theo met us in the car park.

'Grace is drunk,'

'Didn't go well?' Theo said, opening the door for me as I tiggled his chin. 'Oh my god,' He said, laughing at me.

'No, it went perfectly fine, I think that is where the issue stands,' Luke laughed, coming over and putting his hand around my waist. I laughed, leaning into him as Luke tried to get me to walk, before realising it was futile and scooping me up in his arms.

'Romantic!' I commented, happy in his arms as he carried me.

'How is Dad?'

'He hasn't said much, in all honesty, he's acted like nothing has happened,' Theo said and Luke held me a tiny bit tighter as I leant forward and kissed his dimple. 'How much has she had to drink?' Theo asked in shock.

'A few glasses of wine? I dunno, I didn't think she had much, I think it's just tiredness mixed with alcohol and a relief of stress,' Luke said, carrying me like I weighed nothing.

'Grace, you're such a lightweight,' Theo said and I grinned at him. The brothers said nothing until I got back to Luke's room.

'I'll see you both tomorrow, although you might be hung over,' He said to me and I grinned back at him once more. My Soulfinder's brother was just so funny at times. Luke sighed and nodded, changing his conversation to telepathy so I cannot hear it anymore.

I must have fallen asleep on his lap as I woke up an hour or so later, tucked up in bed changed with Luke beside me, leaning against the backboard reading a book.

'Hey,' I whispered to him.

'How are you feeling, big drinker?' He asked me gently.

'Sorry,' I mumbled.

'Don't worry, glad you let your hair down,' I said and I smiled slightly, before realising there was a churning in my stomach. Oh- that's why I hadn't had a drink in ages because I'm a puker. I quickly ran out of bed and threw up the remaining alcohol in my stomach and my dinner Jack had made for me. Luke followed me, gently kneeling beside me and holding my hair back and telling me it was fine, and I would be okay as I started shaking. I eventually sat back as I flushed my vomit away. God, how is Luke this patient with me?

'Remind me not to let you near alcohol again,' He said softly to me, giving me a hand up.

'God, I am so sorry,' I mumbled.

'Sweetheart, it's okay, not the first time I've seen you throw up,' Luke said softly to me and I shook my head. What kind of okay did he think it was? I went to brush my teeth and Luke stood up and frowned, standing behind me so I could see him in the mirror. 'You sure you're okay, you look really... pale,' Luke said, tilting his head to one side.

I spun around to talk to him, but before I could even focus on where he was in the room or begin in speak, planning on telling him I was perfectly fine, I felt my head go incredibly light and by vision went black and my knees collapsed. I hit my head on the back of the ceramic sink, making a horrible thudding noise. The last thing I heard before I was stone cold out was Luke swearing under his breath and then shouting my name down a tunnel.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I squinted against the constant noise of whatever it was and squinted again at my pounding head and realising how dry my mouth was. I was the definition of hung over. But where was I? Why was there a horrible beeping – and where was Luke? I couldn't remember the last time I woke up and he wasn't there, beside me, but now I feel cold and bare.

Beep. Beep.

I shivered in bed before I remembered what had happened in my last moments of consciousness, not that I was able to tell you how long ago that was – I had thrown up with Luke behind me, and then he commented on how pale I was and I went to make some kind of witty joke, turned around and blacked out – but the issue was more that I banged my head against the ceramic sink – quite hard if I remember correctly. I never resurfaced from that so I can only assume I had been taken to the doctors within the palace, and set up on machines so they can monitor me. Luke can be so dramatic at times.

But where was he? I tried to focus, and I could hear a deep voice with an incredibly articulated tone of voice to him - Luke. He must have been outside. He was talking to someone, though, someone's voice I didn't recognise. A few minutes later, I heard the door open and someone walks in, beside my bed and sit down. Luke gently held my hand – in an odd way so I could guess I had a saline drip in the back of my hand – and he sighed.

'You never tell me when you feel ill, you idiot,' He whispered to me. 'I would have taken you to the doctors sooner,' He said but he sounded sad and defeated. 'I wish you would have told me, Grace,'

'Told you what?' I said, opening my eyes slightly as the light was so harsh. The room itself was clinical with white-on-white and I had a few machines around me and the drip in my left hand where Luke sat looking tired and drained. How long was I asleep for? Luke looked up at me in shock before gently kissing me but there were raw emotions behind it like he never wanted to let go of me. However, he did.

'You never say when you don't feel well, and then you go and collapse on me.' Luke said, shaking his head.

'Am I alright?'

'What, from hitting your head?' I said and nodded, 'you have a nice cut but that's been stitched and bandaged up, now do you want to know what's currently wrong with you?' He said and I nodded. 'You're hung over and dehydrated, you also have some strain of the flu I think it was, you're on tablets to clear it out as they don't think your immune system is strong enough to fight it by itself. When will you learn to be sensible?' Luke sighed.

'Didn't realise I would wake up to have a rant,' I said, touching my forehead and feeling the rough material of the bandage wrapped around my head.

'Grace,' Luke sighed, gently playing with my hair. 'I just... I want you to be safe and well, sorry for flipping,' He said, kissing mine gently.

'What time is it?'

'It's Tuesday, 4 pm, you've been out for ages. They were about to order a brain scan on you to make sure there's nothing serious there.'

'Your dad?'

'Knows we're back, wanted to speak to me but then you, you know, flopped all over the place and started bleeding all over the floor, and I took you straight to hospital,'

I sat bolt upright.

'Hospital?' I shouted at him and he frowned.

'Where did you think we are?'

'I thought we were in the doctors at your place,' I was going to say house, but can you really call Buckingham Palace a house? Don't think so. 'Why am I here?'

'Because you hit your head, good thing we are here too, you could have hurt more than just you!' Luke protested, poking the saline tube beside him.

'I didn't hurt you, did I?' I asked and he frowned.

'No?' He replied equally as confused.

'Then who else would I have hurt?' I asked and Luke frowned.

'You... don't know?'

'Know what? I didn't hurt Theo or punch your Dad, did I? Or kick a doctor?' I asked and Luke continued to frown at me, a small mark between his eyebrows appearing. He was genuinely confused. 'I kicked a doctor didn't I?'

'Oh my God,' Luke muttered, dropping my hand and leaning back in his chair. My mouth opened slightly in shock as he watched me like I was some kind of weirdo.

'Luke, please, you're scaring me,' I mumbled. He leant forward again. He continued to look at me, his blue eyes like ice as they mirrored his concern. 'Please,' I whispered nearly in tears and Luke put his hand on my knee as he looked me dead in the eye.

'What?' I said, my voice breaking.

'You're pregnant, Grace,' He said and I raised my eyebrows.

'What.'

'How did you not know?' Luke asked and my mouth was open. I was... what?

'No, you're pulling my leg. Nice try,' I said and Luke went to say something. 'I can't be, I literally had a period a few weeks ago, I'm on the pill, but nice try,'

'Grace, I'm not making this up, they've done the tests. They're doing a scan a bit later to confirm it and confirm everything is okay, they think that's why this illness is fucking around with you so bad because you're pregnant you can't fight it off properly. You really are pregnant,' Luke said with a massive grin on his face.

'Okay, I would be okay with this had I believed you but finding it kinda tricky,' I sighed and Luke grabbed the medical chart from my bed and flipped through it, finding the right page. Sure enough, where it says my name and "PREGNANT Y/N" the Y was circled.

'Elaborate prank?'

'Sweetheart, this isn't a prank, this is real and this is happening. I didn't believe it earlier and then I thought you had hidden it from me this entire time but, clearly,' Luke said before he grinned at me, sitting on the bed near me. He met my eyes for a moment, and I leant forward and kissed him scared that this would break us up. I was relieved when he kissed back.

'Oh, you're Dad is so going to hate me now,' I whispered and Luke grinned.

'Nah,' Luke said. 'Well, perhaps but I won't let anything happen to you two,'

Straight away, he was already planning for whatever life we had ahead whilst I was still reeling in amazement and shock and... how? How could his happen? The realisation hit me so quick I gasped and Luke frowned. 'You okay?'

'Oh my god, I literally drunk last night,'

'Yeah, not good, but the nurses said you'll be fine and the baby should also be fine as it was a one off, and you did throw up most of it. Your blood alcohol level wasn't too bad by the time we got here, you weren't over the legal limit for drink driving so it shouldn't affect our baby,' Luke said before looking down at his hands, which were on my leg. 'Is it mine, Grace?'

'No, it's your brothers,' I said and he looked up at me in shock and anger. 'Of course, it's yours, dickhead,' I said and he smiled, shaking his head.

'What are we going to do?' I asked and he shrugged.

'We'll figure it out once we get your ass out of here, I'll go and grab a nurse,' Luke said, kissing me softly and I couldn't miss the way his hand gently lingered on my stomach for a second, before he got up and walked out the room, looking over his shoulder with a smile on his face.

I laid back down wondering how the hell this has happened. Well, I knew how it happened (obviously) but how it was even possible. I was on the pill the entire time. It shouldn't have happened, though, unless the pill I changed too was not effective on me which was a very small possibility as it plays with hormones and increases one and decreases the other or something and if it didn't do that then, hey ho there was no point of even taking it. So, it might have been that?

I thought about the big picture; it wasn't just me and Luke anymore. If we decided to keep the baby, then it would be three of us. I sat forward a bit when the realisation hit me; if Theo didn't go on to have any kids himself, when he gave up the throne that was his, he would pass it over to Luke, and when Luke gave it up, it would be with Luke's child. Our child. _Our baby will be the King or Queen._ Holy shit.

No. I had to talk to Luke first, make a list of all my doubts. He didn't mention if he wanted a baby or not and let's not even mention how soon in our relationship this is. Or the bad press he would get for it, or anything else. This would affect him a hell of a lot more than it would ever affect me. I sighed, not even too sure what to do. I wanted Luke back. I closed my eyes, hoping it would reduce the time I had to wait.

I woke up groggy and not in a hospital bed – but I was cold, damp and shaking. I frowned as I opened my eyes, seeing myself in a dark room that was covered in water, puddles on the floor which were around my chest, and the ceiling was dropping water onto me. It was dark, hard to see where I was, and did I mention it was freezing too? I was in hospital moments ago and now I was... where was Luke? I looked around and couldn't see him anywhere. I then touched my forehead, feeling the bandage wrapped around there. I was in the hospital, then. So how did I get here?

Pushing myself up, I took a moment to throw up on the floor. From fear? That illness Luke said I had? Perhaps even morning sickness? Not that I knew what the time was. I looked around the room I was in. The room was an odd phrase really. I was at the end of a long corridor, the entire thing really dark with only one light a few hundred feet away in the middle of the corridor and the dripping of water made a funny noise.

I started to walk down the corridor, realising something wasn't right. This wasn't the posh hospital I was in. This was sinister. This wasn't right.

The corridor turned left, then right, and then right again and up some stairs and through a wooden door. I didn't see anyone, but there were a few wooden pallets along the way. However, through the door, the corridors turned into a steel colour and were light and dry. I shivered. Oh, this was not good. There was a room at the bottom of the corridor, the door opened, warm lights inside. I shivered – this was ominous. I wanted Luke. I wanted him to come and save me, to explain what to was and this was an evil joke or something but I knew it wasn't. Luke wouldn't do this to me. I just had to do it. I had to remember to keep Luke safe, though; this might be a massive ploy for him.

I just walked straight into the room, trying to be confident.

There was a man sitting on the chair, with dark brown hair that was half a grey, and eyes that looked like a dead shark. He was thin but wore a badly fitting suit, which only brought out the grey in his hair.

'Grace, you're awake. Took your god damn time,' The guy sighed.

'Who are you?' I asked, 'Where am I?'

The man tilted his head. 'Hmm, you're not that loyal are you?' He said and tutted. 'Might have to change my plan.'

'What plan?' I asked.

'Sit down, Grace,' The man said.

'Fuck you,' I said.

'Oh, don't be like that. Your parents never liked you swearing like that, did they?' The man asked and my gut dropped. How did he know my parents? I sunk in the chair he gestured for me. 'I'm Callus,'

'Why am I here?'

'You've been very interesting, Grace, you really have. Incredible to study,' Callus sighed and stared at me. 'So much like your mother, too, bet you get that a lot,'

'Don't,' I said.

'Don't speak when I'm speaking!' He shouted at me, slamming his hand onto the table. I frowned at him. 'I have been watching you since you were a toddler.'

'What?' I faulted.

'I know all about you, Grace, everything,' Callus said, his hands knitted together and I frowned at him. Yeah, right.

'Your parents were going to call you Amelia. Amelia Williams. They decided when you were four hours old it didn't suit you, you were so elegant as a child, you didn't cry, you were perfect. Graceful, they said, you were born with grace. That's where your name came from. On your third birthday, you got a bike but Jack cut off the decorations on the handles. When you were seven, Jack pushed you on the swing you made on your tree in the garden and you fell off, breaking your ankle. When you were twelve, you walked up to your road with your backpack open and all of you items fell down the road, dropping your English book for Mr Jacobson, your Hello Kitty pencil case, your lunch of ham sandwiches and salt and vinegar crisps. You didn't eat for months after your parent's deaths. You lived in halls for two months until you moved in with your roommates, Sara and Mycelia. You wanted the blue rug, they wanted purple. You're dating the Prince at the moment. I know all about you, Grace,' Callus said and I went cold. No one knew half of that.

'You watched me as a child?'

'I kept an eye on you,' Callus said.

'What do you want from me?'

'I want what I always deserve, night, Grace,' He said and I blacked out again, and I realised every time I blacked out, it was down to him. He was a Savant. And I was in a lot of trouble.

Sorry, I lied, but this is the last chapter before Christmas. It was a series of slightly shorter chapters combined into one! Merry Christmas!


	18. Chapter 18

**Luke's POV**

'What do you mean; you don't know where she is?' I shouted in shock as more people from several different security agencies stood around me, some from the police, some who work in the same team as Grace, and some others I had never even heard of but were brought in.

I was crammed into the library with all the guys and Theo as it was small enough for me to pace but not so small that I was confined. Grace had been missing for a day and a bit now and I was promised they would find her. The ward we were in was crammed with CCTV – the entire hospital was – but they can't find her.

'Your Highness,' The main guy who had hired Grace starred at me and I couldn't even remember his name – Andrew? Not that I cared, I wanted my Grace back. 'We have reviewed all CCTV footage from the hospital, tracked the route out of the hospital, and found the getaway vehicle but it's under a fake plate,' He explained, gesturing to a laptop on the table. He walked over, pressing play, and I saw Grace asleep in the hospital bed about fifteen minutes after I left to find her nurse who was on lunch break. I thought she would have been safe.

Was this my fault? I left her alone. As I watched, a gentleman entered the room in a doctors coat and jabbed her arm with a needle without even hesitating. She immediately woke up, frowned at him trying to work what was happening out and then started panicking and trying to escape, her blonde hair blocking her face. A few seconds later, her struggle died down and the man lifted her up, threw her in a fireman's lift over his shoulder, and walked out. The CCTV footage changed to him walking down the hallway, no nurses to be seen, and taking a delivery route out of the hospital. Anyone who saw him collapsed to the floor.

I could only watch as my heart stopped as he opened the doors to a black transit van and threw – literally threw – Grace in the back before speeding off.

'Can't you track the real plate?' Theo asked. 'Or appeal for witnesses? Track her down that way? She can't have got far,' He asked.

'We're appealing for witnesses but the best way to get this out globally is to let the media have it,' Andrew and Theo looked at me as I rewatched the CCTV. I let Grace get hurt. She could be dead. My throat closed.

 _Grace, please be safe._ I tried talking to her telepathically but nothing. It was like she wasn't there like she had been locked in a box. I teared up before realising what Andrew was saying. He knew our connection - which she was my girlfriend, and he wasn't overly happy from a work point of view but he was business anyway.

'What do you mean let the media have it?'

'We tell the papers, we get her face in every single paper, every news article, on TV, billboard, finds her for a reward. Tighten security in all ports out of the country, make the people of Britain know her face and know that she isn't there willingly. Let them know she's your girlfriend.' Andrew said and I looked over at Theo. I had managed to speak to Dad once about it, and he seemed tentative but was willing to sit her down and talk to her which was progress, but then all of this happened.

Theo knew my mind and commented for me. 'Can we take out the girlfriend part, say she's high risk or something,'

'Or just put her out as a missing person who's family has money and therefore can afford to advertise their missing child like this?' I added, looking up at him and he nodded.

'We could but it might not have the same emphasis.' Andrew said. 'People are more likely to look for a potential Princess to be than a nobody,'

I got up and flipped over the table in anger. 'She isn't a no one,' I shouted at him. He held his hands up.

'She isn't, we know that Luke,' Andrew said calmly. He looked over at Theo, gesturing him to speak outside. 'We're going to let Theo make the decision for you,' He said calmly.

'Like I'm a four-year-old?' I snapped back.

'Mate, you're in no fit position to make this call, you trust me to make the right decision?' Theo asked and I knew he always did make the correct call and I just nodded, sitting back down and sulking. Theo then left the room without another word, and everyone followed him out. I sat there and cried.

Why did I leave Grace to find that nurse? I put her at risk. She was so important to me, she was one of the most important things to me and I put her at risk of this, and it happened! They might never find her. She might be dead. She might be alive and being tortured as we speak.

I buried my face in my hands. I'm the cause for this. I'm hurting my other half and it was killing me off too. Looking at the door, I walked over to my coat I had worn to the hospital yesterday and pulled out two pieces of paper which I had hid in there. I had taken the front sheet from Grace's medical chart, explaining the link to me and why she was being held in the Royal ward, which was kept otherwise empty, and it stated on the front her pregnancy.

I pressed my eyes shut, tight. I remembered Grace's face when I told her, the shock, then that cheeky grin on her face as she thought I was joking. Then the realisation hit her, and the cute look on her face. The look of pure shock all over again, the way the frown lingered on her forehead, a small crease between her eyebrows and then the sparkle in her eyes and I knew just from that look that it would all be fine, that we would work it out.

And then she went missing. Fifteen minutes was all it took, I came back and she wasn't there. I thought she had been taken for a scan so I just sat there stupidly for a few minutes until the nurse came in and asked where she was and she told me that no doctor or nurse had taken her anywhere. That's when I knew something was wrong.

I had the front page in my pocket out of habit – we always do it with our paperwork so if it gets lost that it can't be traced back to us. But behind that piece of paper, a blurry ultrasound they had done when she asleep to ensure everything was okay. It was.

I pulled out the ultrasound, double checking the door so no one walked in and checked. I couldn't see anything in it, but there was a dark space in the middle of white wiggly lines and to the bottom of the empty gap there was a little oval – apparently that was our baby. It didn't look like a baby. It looked like an oval but it was our little baby. I gently ran my finger over the scan. I wished Grace was awake to see it, and she could have seen the scan or heard the heartbeat. It was incredible but she missed it. They worked out it was around 7 weeks and a day or so, which meant she must have conceived on either the first or second night. The pill failed completely. But I didn't have enough time to even show her before she went.

And now, I don't know if I'll ever see her again.


	19. Chapter 19

**Nineteen**

I woke up with no idea where I was, why I was there, or even what day or time it was, and I was completely disorientated. I sat bolt upright and surveyed the room, trying to at least gather my bearings.

The room I was in was quite big, with no windows and artificial light but was decorated with a monochrome theme. The bed I was tucked into was a single, in the corner behind a grey three-plane room divider. There was a dark wood wardrobe beside me and I slowly edge out the bed, my feet immediately falling into the soft wool slippers that were placed beside my bed. Edging out the small sectioned off bedroom area, the room opened up; there was a small gap between the divider, and then a wall extended out to the bathroom on one side, and there was a self-catered area with a fridge, and a lush sofa in a curved shape on a grey rug with a curved TV on a black wood desk. A door was on the other side with a small pad beside it with a red light bar on the top which looked like it would be card activated. So I couldn't get out.

A familiar curl was in my stomach and I ran into the bathroom, only just about able to locate the toilet before retching in it. A few minutes later, stomach contents that was already low now sitting in the toilet I sighed, leaning back on the cold charcoal and white tiles, chilling my back.

Luke's words came back to me and I frowned. I didn't know when he said them but I remembered the frown that played on his head as he told me I was pregnant. My hand fell over my abdomen and I still didn't believe him fully – but at the same time I did. I mean, there was no signs on my body anything had changed but... it made sense in a weird way and all the things I had missed or put down to period hormones were perhaps more clear now; the weird urge to have spicy chicken, breast pain and the constantly throwing up. Although Luke did say I also had a virus, but I was throwing up at around three in the morning – which at least gave me a rough indication of time.

Eventually, I persuaded myself to stand up and head back into the lounge and onto the soft sofa, sinking into it as my tired and shattered body rested. I don't know where I was or even how I got here but I knew Luke would be out looking for me. But this attack was completely unplanned, it had never been warned and there was no one out to get me so to speak. So how would they ever find me?

I closed my eyes, trying to work out a way to get a telepathic message to Luke but there was a bubble in the way, someone was stopping me speaking telepathically. I took a moment to observe what I was wearing and was incredibly freaked out when I was in different clothes than I was when I arrived, meaning someone had changed me – I was now in a grey oversized shirt that did nothing for my figure (thankfully) and some leggings and a sports bra.

There was a knock on the door and I jumped a mile, edging back on the sofa as there was a sharp beep and the door opened itself, sinking into the wall making it near enough impossible to escape. Damn.

To my surprise, a young man walked in – I would say about eighteen with neat blonde hair, in a tight fitting grey sports base layer and matching bottoms. Once upon the time, the base layers were branded, and you could see the outline where the tick logo sat but it had either been removed or faded over time. I frowned at the gentleman.

'You have a busy day today, have you eaten?' Was all the gentleman said to me and I stretched out, yawning, pretending I had just waked up?

'What time is it?' I asked the boy.

'Five, it's when we get moving around here,' The boy replied to me. 'You have bread on the side, and some juice in your fridge. I've been sent to make sure you eat. I'll be your escort for your... trip,' the boy said to me.

'How old are you?' I asked.

'Nineteen,' He said, sitting on the edge of the coffee table, and his formal stature was gone. He just looked like a normal teenage boy. He tilted his head at me, frowning, before I got up and walked over to the fridge. Sure enough, there was a carton of orange juice in there and I poured myself a glass, gently sipping it.

I had two choices; either disobeys the boy in front of me and shows that I have authority and won't deal with this crap, or pretend to get on really well with him and try and win him over and have him on my side whatever this is. I took another sip, pretending to be thirsty as I wondered what would lead to my safe release and knew in a second I had to pretend to befriend the guy. I walked back over to the settee with my glass in my hand and knew the boy was watching me.

'How old are you?' He asked and I raised an eyebrow. Did he know nothing about me? Odd for a kidnapper who's a plan was premeditated. But it wasn't the gentleman who saw me yesterday, who told me secrets from my past.

'Thought as you kidnapped me you would have known,' I said, repeating my thoughts. He smiled slightly.

'I didn't kidnap you, Grace,' He said

'I'm nearly twenty-one,' I said, taking a shuddery breath wondering if I will ever celebrate my twenty-first birthday. 'This seems hardly fair,'

'What does?' The guy said and I tried my best to give him a cute look but a lamppost in fog has better flirting skills than I do.

'You know all about me, and I don't even know your name,' I joked, taking another slow sip.

'I don't know all about you, I didn't know how old you were,' He said and I tilted my head to the side in a "fair enough" gesture. 'I'm Alec,'

'Alec is your real name?' I asked him and he looked uncomfortable.

'I... I don't know. I think so,' Alec said to me softly and I frowned, realising something more sinister was going on here. People always said to me that I was easy to talk to and they found themselves telling me things they never meant too. Theo had told me all kinds of Royal secrets when I was helping him tidy out the library when I was bored one day, before he realised what was happening. It was like I was an extension of someone's inner consciousness and I hoped Alec would spill the means to me. 'It's odd. Anyway, finish your juice and we'll get going,' He said.

Perhaps not.

'You have a busy day, I believe,' Alec added before walking over to the door, crossing his arms as he stood on guard.

I will need more time to crack him, but how much time did I have?

After my rudimentary breakfast of lumpy orange juice, Alec lead me along a line of twisting corridors, probably back on ourselves a few times, up some stairs and down some elevators until we reached a door – I tried to work out base on the route we had been taken where we was and I worked out we must be about two floors above my original room I had stayed in based on how many floors we went down in the lift compared to how many flights of stairs I ran up, and the twisting pattern of hallways that went around in a rectangle. They were clearly trying to deceive me but didn't know how my gift worked which was reassuring.

Alec knocked on the door for me in a professional manner, before turning back to me with a cheeky grin. In a world without Luke, Alec would have been incredibly hot and worthy of a second glance. But I knew I had to flirt to get Alec on my side, and I hoped Luke would understand. He would have told me to do anything I can in my power to protect myself – and I knew he would change that now to protect myself and our baby. In a split second, I decided to hide the baby in the back of my mind, locked away safely so no one can know about it.

'Don't wind up Boss, he doesn't like it and he won't treat you nicely,' Alec said to me softly, his eyes an incredible green grey colour full of passion before he regained his composure, opening the door and gesturing for me to go in. Why was Alec helping me?

I walked into the room to see Callus sitting head of the table again, watching me as I walked in and stood to one side, arms crossed, as the door behind me closed. I watched and I could see Alec standing on the other side waiting for me to come out – so clearly no plans for me to get murdered. Unless Alec was part of the cleaning up dead people crew?

'Amelia, sit,' Callus said.

'My name isn't Amelia,' I muttered through gritted teeth. It made me feel sick. My mother's name was Amelia – unless I was going to be named after her, this was a massive ploy to get me to cooperate.

'Well. I like the name Amelia so I shall call you Amelia from now on in, got it?'

'No, my name is Grace,' I said and Callus frowned, dead shark eyes looking sad my ignorance.

'No one here is under their birth name, I change their names as they come in, remove their identity so they don't know who they are anymore. I decide to give them a new name to stay with whilst they're with me, and when they leave for the real world they don't go looking for their old lives, they start new working for me.' Callus said, leaning back in his chair.

It was clear we were in some sort of board room, with a white oval table and brown leather chairs and he gestured to the chair opposite him and I edged my way and sat down, remembering Alec's words of advice to me.

'See, you're learning obedience,' Callus said to me, tilting his head.

'Not by choice,' I muttered and he sighed. 'I'm sure I'm here for a reason; let's just get to that reason,'

'You're not the one to make rules,'

'No I'm normally the one to keep time, so get on with it,' I said. I barely realised how snappy I was before I was moved from my chair and thrown into the wall behind me telekinetically. Callus' face was one of sheer anger, not used to being spoken back too, and it reflected in the speed of his force against me. It knocked the air out of me and I struggled to breathe as I was a heaped lump on the floor.

'Don't you ever talk back to me or tell me what to do!' He shouted at me and I tried to focus on my breathing as tears filled my eyes. I watched my hand lying open on the floor in front of me and a foot appeared on it, putting more pressure on it. Callus' boot was crushing my hand and I flinched. 'You understand that, you derogative slut?'

I didn't answer, and he put more weight on it.

'Please,' I whispered faintly.

'Will you speak back to me again?'

'No,' I whispered ever so faint, the pain too much and not being able to breathe didn't help massively – I couldn't focus on anything even speaking.

'No, what?'

'No... sir?' I said tentatively. Callus released his pressure on my hand.

'Good.' He said back to me before forcefully pulling me up. His hands were rough on my waist and i tried not to cringe fearing more injury but they lingered. 'I knew I would like you,' He said. 'Obey me, I'll treat you well, make you a good girl,' He said, his finger tracing down the side of my face and I frowned. 'And stop frowning like that, it'll cause premature wrinkles and it ruins your oh-so-perfect face,' He said, pushing me into a walk back to the chair. He picked up the chair and held it out. Tentatively, I sat down again, touching my head and feeling that the bandage from the hospital was removed by my head felt sticky. Running my hands through my hair I felt the cut, originally from smacking my head against the sink, bleeding again. Callus tutted.

'I'll get medical personnel to check that out later,' He tutted. 'You asked why you are here.'

'I did,' I replied and he sighed.

'Attitude, Grace, drop that now,' He warned and I bit my lip.

'Two reasons, which is just wonderful. The first reason is I wanted to punish your family, specifically your uncles and your grandmother, and a handful of your cousins, too. The ones who run the Savant net. Now, I know you're involved in a moderate capacity within the Net and to my knowledge you're also employed by the British Government under a Savant unit – but also your genetic link to those in power – so I thought it would be a tasteful way to pick you,' He said I widened my eyes – was he going to kill me? 'I'm not going to kill you, no, much worse,' He said with a grim smile that spread up his cheeks and it made my stomach curdle.

'So, my first issue is with the stricken rules of the Savant Net, you know the "don't show off in public, behave, it must be a secret and must be used for good". I don't believe that. If God gave us such almighty gifts to aid our survival and increase our financial yield, why should we hide them? Also, evolution meant we are the strong ones who are destine to survive so why should we hide our gifts so we die without a significant mark? Both science and religion are supporting me. I have been protesting for years, me and my colleagues and we have tried to bring down your family several times – Sky in Vegas was the move of the Kelly's was the first move, and we saw how that riled the cats tail so we kept playing. Then, Yves move in London, on our turf, was a real stab in the back. We have tried thousands of plots, sure only some make it to the stages of being acted out and only a handful work, to bring down the Net and nothing. So, this is our take,' He said and I raised an eyebrow.

'All of this to get back at the people who you perceive is in control?' I asked, 'If you only perceive it, why don't you just go one ahead, overshadow the problem without trying to diminish it,' I said to him, more curious than egging him on.

'Because, Grace,' He lectured, 'we would get stopped before them. We want to make them unable to work and then power over them and shut them down before they even realise,'

'They won't come after me,' I said and deep down inside I was uncertain if what I was saying is true. 'I'm no one special, I haven't got an amazing gift, I haven't got an incredibly powerful family, in all honesty, I'm pretty much no one so I don't think your plan works.' I said.

'Well, you weren't on the list of people to hit first, but you're good enough for us to constantly watch. But now, the second part, the royal family shouldn't be royal without any extra powers, they should be Savant's, to demonstrate the higher people to the UK. They're the most look upon family in the UK, every move in scrutinised, so it makes sense for them to be Savant's – to promote our good use.' He said and it filled me with hope inside. He didn't know that the Royal family were Savant's, or Luke was my Soulfinder, or any of that. 'So that's where you come in.'

'Oh goody, I'm excited about this part,' I sighed, rubbing my head.

'Your attitude, Grace, its horrendous.' Callus said. 'I'm trying really hard to keep my patience with you because I know you're important to my plan but you really are pushing all my buttons,' He said, straightening his tie and I sighed.

'So, you are the only one in the middle of the two statements I want to make. I will only release you when the Royal family allow Savant's into their bloodline.' Excuse me? I raised my eyebrow, what exactly does he mean by that? 'In order for your safe release, I will order a marriage deal between you and Theo, rather than Luke, but by this time you will already be pregnant with my child.' I choked and Callus frowned. 'This will allow my own blood to enter the Throne line. A tragic accident will wipe out the King and the Queen, Theo and Luke leaving the throne to the baby. Public scandal will arise showing the father is actually I - giving me the throne,'

'I don't think that is how the entire Throne-giving, heir to the throne thing works,' I said wondering if he heard himself talking. He was delusional. A marriage to Theo? He was like a brother to me. And being pregnant with his child? Absolutely no way. No way in hell would I ever consider doing anything with him? Not to mention that if he wanted that he would have to wait around nine months and that seems a bit farfetched. And by that point, it would leave our baby as heir to the throne.

'I can persuade the masses, Grace,'

'Right,' I said, raising my eyebrows. He was Koo Koo.

'Within power, I can then overhaul the Savant Net, make it a law for Savant's to be declared on the electoral roll,' He said and I frowned – the throne doesn't make laws, it's the house of commons and the house of laws that pass the bill to and through and the throne only signs it off, and even if the person on the throne doesn't sign it, it's a law anyway, but clearly someone hasn't done their homework on the justice system but I wasn't going to be the one to point that out, 'and make it an offense to be a part of the Savant Network,'

'Your plan is longwinded,' I said.

'I'm okay to wait, I have waited twenty years for this opportunity to arise, I will wait a year and a bit more if I have too, wait for our child to be born and arrange this accident and public scandal. It's no issue with me,' Callus said.

'We ain't having no baby,' I corrected him and he tilted his head.

'You don't have a choice,'

'No, I do, I said no.'

'We'll see – I don't need you anymore. Goodnight,' And with that I was out again.

I woke up back in that monochrome room and I knew it was more than a day later, and it made me wonder in total how long I have been gone from Luke – there was no way I could tell time anymore, with no natural lights and no sleep cycles to obey as I was constantly being forced unconscious for large periods of time, I had no indication of anything. The only rough time indication I had was morning sickness but even that was ropey and I could fall asleep and not rise as it wasn't normal sleep.

I started to cry, hugging the duvet around me. I wanted to be home. I wanted to be safe, with Luke, curled up in his arms at night even if it meant dealing with the wrath of his father. I wanted him just to tell me everything will be okay and given time, all of this will be fine. I wanted to see my brother again, for him to bear hug me and lift me up and spin me around like we have done since we were toddlers. I wanted the patronising lectures of "what are you doing with your life" and when I got upset to have movie nights, with me curled up under his arm as he kept feeding my popcorn. I wanted the random trips to Primark with my best friends, or the endless texts on the group chat. I also wanted the messages every so often from my cousins who just wanted a chat rather than a favour – I was close to my extended family and I wanted everything I thought was normal but was a privilege.

 _Luke, please, help me._ I shouted telepathically to every wavelength I knew.

 _Grace?_

 **Luke's POV**

Grace has been missing for six days and they have found no leads, it was like she disappeared off the face of the Earth. In those six days I hadn't been productive; I sat in my room doing nothing, refusing to talk and to eat, or to sleep in case I would hear anything from her. I knew each day someone was kidnapped, their chances of survival was halved, which meant there was a 1.65% chance she was alive. Tomorrow, there would be less than that. Tomorrow, there would be a 1/100th chance she was alive. I hit my bed in anger, before looking at the constant news feed I had on my TV.

Theo had gone public with Grace but only after five days of her being missing, which meant every news anchor was currently reporting about her. I turned the volume up on the TV when I saw a picture of Grace – a beautiful picture taken on her graduation day with her two friends beside her, but both were semi-cropped out, focusing on Grace in the middle. Her eyes shone and she was extremely beautiful and her handful of freckles were shining through and the small scar she had on her cheek made her distinctive, so we had all hoped the image made her memorable.

"There is a national manhunt away for Grace Williams, a twenty-year-old recent graduate from Cambridge University and girlfriend to His Royal Highness, Prince Luke. The couple is believed to have met each other the end of the last year and have kept their relationship a secret by request until now.

Miss Williams was forcibly removed from her hospital room in the St Mary's Hospital in the early hours of Tuesday morning, where she was temporarily hospitalised for a head injury after falling over. An unknown man entered the hospital room before injecting Miss Williams with an unknown substance before throwing her into the back of an unmarked van and speeding away. Police say it is unlikely Miss Williams has been able to leave the country

Buckingham Palace and Police are asking for any witnesses of Grace Williams, either from the kidnapping or sightings to come forward, and any information that leads to Miss Williams being brought home will be reward,"

The news anchor carried on with the other headlines but there was a little bar at the bottom, scrolling, which kept saying her news and the number to call in.

My phone rang beside me, but seeing it wasn't the two numbers who would contact me in the event of any news on Grace, I ignored it and continued to play with her hair band she left in my room.

A few minutes – or a few hours - later there was a knock at the door and whoever was behind it knew I wasn't going to answer opened the door.

Theo walked in with a sad smile on his face and my heart started beating. Oh God. A few people followed him including Andrew, Mum, a few other people I had been introduced to in the last few days and someone new and I frowned at him. He seemed... familiar. He had tanned skin, with brown hair tied back and grey eyes and looked like he was important. I narrowed my eyes at him. I'm sure I knew him from somewhere.

'Any news?' I asked hopefully and Theo shook his head. Clearly under instruction to speak and everyone else to remain silent as I couldn't justify yelling at my own brother but everyone else I apparently could.

'Nothing as of yet, they're going through all the tip ins from the press,' So people had been calling in? I had hope. 'But meet Grace's cousin, Victor Benedict, he works for the FBI in Colorado,' Theo told me and I looked back to the guy. Grace's cousin? A Benedict? The people who run the Savant Net? Of course that would be why he looks familiar? But since when was Grace related to these people? I took the hand he offered me and nodded.

'Nice to meet you,' He said formally and I nodded. 'We have the plan to try and find Grace,' He said.

Now I was interested.

'We've done it before a year or so ago, when some of my brother's Soulfinder's went missing, and my mother, we used certain people in our family to track down the Soulfinder bond and follow them to a rough location, and use geographical profiling from there. If you're willing to do it, we will call our family and try it, but we understand if you think it may seem sketchy but you have to ask what is best for Grace,' He said and I felt persuaded to do it.

'Yeah, do it, anything to get her back,' I said and he bowed slightly before leaving his room, pulling out his mobile phone from his pocket.

Hopefully, one steps closer to finding Grace.

That night, I sat in the room we used to share – her own room within the Palace – on the side of the bed I had acquired and closed my eyes, leaning my forehead against the bed waiting to hear anything from Grace.

I knew how much I loved her in that moment and how far I would go to protect her but I wanted her back here, safe. It was my fault entirely she was gone. I should have been there to protect her, keep her safe, but no.

But that's when I heard it, very faint, so faint it might have been my own imagination.

 _Luke, please, help me._ It sounded like Grace and I grabbed hold of the telepathic conversation, trying to root it down.

 _Grace?_ I asked back tentatively.

 _Luke?_ She asked back.

 _Oh my God, Grace! Where are you, are you okay?_ I asked her straight on and I felt her hesitation.

 _Luke, I love you._ She said and I was trying to feel rough where she was. Not in London or in the perimeter of 100 miles that's for certain. I wanted to suggest Cornwall, somewhere remote and far away but there were people around her.

 _I love you too, Grace, but where are you? Are you okay?_ I repeated.

 _I don't know where I am, it's somewhere underground. The man who is holding me is called Callus, he seems to have a grudge against the Savant Net and the Royal family and it seems like he has done acts before. I'm okay, though, a bit beat up._ Grace told me quickly and I wrote down what she said.

 _The baby?_ I asked as I continued to write down what she said, hopefully, it would be able to find the man who held her and therefore her location.

 _I think so, nothing to say otherwise._ She said softly.

 _Has anyone hurt you?_

 _Yeah._ Grace said weakly. _If they find out I'm speaking to you like this, they'll continue. They don't think you're a Savant, but can you get hold of my cousins? Crystal? She might be able to find me._

 _One of your cousins was here – Victor? – he said he's calling over the rest to try and find you tomorrow. Hold tight, sweetheart, I love you, and I will find you and I will never let you out my sights ever again._ I told her and I knew it was true, if he thinks she's going somewhere without me now, she's mistaken.

 _Whatever happens, Luke, just remember that I love you._ She said and I felt something physically cut us off and I was left crying on her bed.

* * *

Happy new Year everyone! I hope your year is perfect and you acheive whatever it is you wanted to achieve this year! I believe in you all!


	20. Chapter 20

**Twenty**

I knew that every time I was forced to sleep, I was under for more than a day. Luke made that extremely clear when I managed to talk to him telepathically before being knocked out again by Callus, who had entered the room at the wrong time, yelled at me before knocking me out, thus cutting the telepathic conversation. But I hoped I managed to get out enough information to Luke so they could track down the bastard and lock him up before he could do anything to hurt Luke or my family.

Eventually, I found the will power to open my eyes and survey my bed again; I had been tucked in but they duvet was extremely crumpled where I must have been tossing and turning in my sleep. There were four glasses of water on the table beside my bed, with some forming bubbles so I knew I had been under a lot longer than normal. The alarm in Luke's voice was high when I spoke to him and I knew I had been gone more than two days – and especially for Vick to get involved.

It would take about twelve hours for Vick to come over, and he wouldn't come over until he knew I was in serious danger and wasn't just lost on a night out like I had been a few times at university. So it had to be a few days, and I hadn't told any of my extended family about Luke, or the bond either, which meant _Buckingham Palace_ had to call and tell him. Luke had to get his entire family involved. So, this is a lot more serious than originally thought. So I had to be gone about four days, my best guess, perhaps five now. But who knows. At least Callus' gift meant I was constantly well rested. Although, I was in just a very skimpy vest top that showed off a bit more of my boobs than I normally do, and a pair of shorts, and I don't remember being dressed like this when I contacted Luke.

I got up, downing two of the cups of water and sighing after, my thirst quenched for the time being before I walked into the lounge. I jumped out of my skin when Alec was sitting on the sofa, watching the news channel. He turned around, hearing my footsteps, but he didn't get up and smiled at me gently. Had he been here all along, keeping an eye on me?

My eyes flickered to the TV which was on and on BBC news, one of the more reliable news channels in the UK. My breath was completely taken away when I was met face-to-face with myself.

'Is that you?' Alec asked.

The photo they used was taken on our graduation day, before the ceremony themselves, when we had collected our hired gowns and our mortar board hats which we had paid to keep, and we put them on for the first time. It was a great photo, though, taken my Mycelia's father, where I was in the middle with my arms around Sara's and Mycelia's waists, their arms around my shoulders, as we grinned into the camera.

'Er, yeah, what the fuck,' I said, sitting down. 'Is there volume?'

'Yeah, I kept it off because you were out, here,' He said, picking up the remote and turning it up to medium volume. The news channel turned to the business with the weather as it was fifteen minutes before the next segment started and I looked over at Alec. He had damp hair and was in a grey shirt and jeans, compared to the grey base layers he was wearing earlier. 'You don't deserve to be here,' He mumbled.

'Does anymore?' I asked quietly.

'You need to wash yourself down,' Alec said with importance, gesturing for me to go into the bathroom. I was about to protest to high hell and realised there was something in his eyes and I went with him. He turned the shower on and the taps and closed the door. 'It's bugged out there, they can hear us, but in here they have nothing,' Alec explained and I set tentatively on the edge of the bath.

'Where are we?' I asked him, 'You won't get me in trouble, will you?'

He smiled slightly. 'I might have when you were first here, but you're different. You do actually care, you're not like the rest they have brought in. You don't have evil in you, you just have, good,' He said tilting his head. 'You're in danger if you stay here, you're not safe from everyone out there,'

'I like how cryptic you're being, but please be a bit more precise,' I told him.

'This is like a camp, or a head office, Grace, everyone here is Savant's, like me and you, but everyone here believes they should use their gifts for the bad. I used to think the same, but now I don't. I was put on duties to help the new kids, the kids, of these people and how can you be bad to people who are so innocent? But you can't get out once you're in. That's why I want to help get you out. You're innocent, sweet, you have a life and a dedicated boyfriend and a family out there for you, I wish I still had that, so yeah, you can trust me and I can help get you out,' Alec said looking at his socks.

'Don't you have anyone out there? Because if I get out, you're coming with me. You don't want to be here,' I said.

'I used to. My parents died, I had one older sister but I don't know what she's doing but she doesn't care about me. My Soulfinder died in a house fire the day I was taken here,' Alec said.

'Oh,' I muttered. 'I'm so sorry,'

'It's okay,' Alec said but I knew it wasn't. 'So, you're dating the Prince? You don't seem very royal,'

'I'm not Royal, that would be why. I'm just a normal kid,' I told him and he frowned.

'There was a ball a few months ago?' Alec asked and I wasn't surprised. They appeared to have news channels here so it made sense he would know. It was plastered all over the news.

'We were already together then, his Dad set it up,' I said and he nodded.

'You've been together for quite long, I'm not entirely sure how you hid it all that time, I'm impressed. Bet your parents were happy with him, even though he isn't you're Soulfinder,' I frowned and realised it must be what the media was spinning, thanks to Luke's talent to lie fluently to the media. But I wouldn't risk telling Alec about my link with Luke. He seems genuine enough, but Luke is way too precious and important to me. And there was no way in hell I was mentioning our pregnancy either. Part of Callus' plan was to knock me up to fuck over the Royal family, and he didn't even realise I was _currently_ pregnant therefore I couldn't carry his child for at least the next 8 months, as I assumed I was over four weeks gone already. But if I told him that, he might do something drastic. So I had to protect Luke and our baby at all costs.

'My parents are dead too,' I said and he looked back up at me in shock, 'They died in a car accident two years ago,' I said, pulling my vest top as I teared up.

'I'm sorry, I had no idea –' Alec said and I shrugged. 'Do you want to go and watch the news?' He said and I nodded, leaving the room after him and sitting on the arm of the sofa. I watched the remainder of the weather, my eyes trained on London as I had no idea where we are. I looked at Alec and he met my gaze with a small frown, before leaning forward and pointing to the bottom end of Cornwall on the south coast and my eyes widened. We were hundreds of miles away from London. Luke would have no idea to look for me here. Eventually, the headlines were on.

'Our main headline tonight, Grace Williams, the girlfriend of High Royal Highness Prince Luke, is still missing after nine days, with no substantial leads as to the location of her.' I widened my eyes –it had been nine days since I went missing? I had only woken up three times, averaging at once every three days – no wonder why I felt ill and was incredibly dehydrated. I needed to learn to control myself around Callus and avoid his gift or it won't be good for me or my baby. I sat in a way so I could rest my hand on my stomach without it looking like a pregnancy gesture. I promised my baby that I will do everything I can to protect her, or him, and promised Luke I would keep him safe. I had to do it for them, even if it meant my shit health, and I put myself through extraneous levels of pain.

But I knew by roughly now they must have leads on where I was, if Vick was involved, he would bring over his brothers, my cousins, and their Soulfinder's too and I knew between them they would be able to track down where I was. They had done it a few years back when some evil bitch in Italy kidnapped them after a hen do I had been invited too. I asked Luke to get Crystal over, knowing she could track down the Soulfinder bond, providing it wasn't damaged at his end, to try and find me. She had done it before, I know she can do it easily too. I just had to hope. But then they had to set a plan into action, make sure they had the personnel for the mission to get me out of here, and they then had to view the aspect of is it worth shutting down this camp?

I could be here for a few more days in the best case scenario or dead by tonight at the worst.

 **Luke's POV**

'We've found her, why can't we just go and get her?' I asked the Benedict's as the look among each other to find the best person to get to calm me down. There were the seven kids, their parents, all of their Soulfinder's, and three other kids and their Soulfinder's too, and two freelance agents who were the brothers of someone – not that I paid attention when they introduced me. Theo was on the other side of the room, working with one of the freelancers or whatever they were. He looked up, alarmed at the silence.

'It's not that easy,' someone said to me and I turned to see a girl, who must be a year or so younger with me, with long blonde hair in a fishtail braid over her shoulder and blue eyes. What was her name again? The youngest Benedict – Zack? Or something beginning with "Z" came up behind her and put his arm around her waist.

'Yes it is, you have the coordinates of where she is at this moment in time, let's just all get in a minibus and head on down there like a really nice field trip,' I suggested.

'We know she's not there alone, and the guy she mentioned when she spoke to you a few days ago is thought to be the leader of the equivalent on the evil Savant Net, mate,' Theo told me across the room and I glared at him – he was meant to be on my side. 'We can't just nip on in there, find Grace and waltz out of there without any type of trouble.'

I sighed, knowing it was true but it was killing me off. I turned around and headed to a window as everyone else carried on whatever they were doing. It had started to rain, and not a light drizzle, but pissing it down with dark grey clouds the colour of iron filling the skies for as far as I could see. It put the tourists off who were normally crowded around the house. Only a few poor sods were wondering around with umbrellas down there. Tourists, I could imagine, wanting photos with their union jack print umbrellas.

'It must suck,' a girl said beside me and I looked over at her. I knew her name – Angel. She was in a band whose song was in the charts a few weeks ago. She just appeared beside me and I tried not to jump.

'Yeah,' I said, playing with the window ledge.

'We will get her back, though,' someone else besides me. 'Summer,' She introduced herself for what must be the fourth time as everyone must know I was struggling to keep up anything when Grace wasn't here. It had come to Theo having to stay in my room and force me to eat and to shower or I would just sit there for hours on end waiting for Grace. And to think when I first met her I was close to giving her up because I was sulking with her for being uptight about my family.

'How do you know,' I mumbled.

'It's what we always do, your Highness,' Summer said and I cringed. 'Sorry,' She said. They had all bowed as they walked in and I wanted to kick them every time they did but I had to remind myself if I wasn't a Prince, chances are they wouldn't have taken Grace.

'Luke, we promise we'll get her back,' Angel said to me. I didn't reply and eventually they wandered off.

Everyone continued to wander around, doing their jobs as I stood watching the storm roll overhead and the changing of the guards, and tourists coming back again as the rain eased off. I sensed someone beside me again and I didn't say anything but continued to watch outside.

'You completely love her, you can't function without her, can you?' Crystal said to me and I raised an eyebrow.

'Stupid question,' I said and she shrugged.

'Yep,' She replied and I smiled slightly.

'Grace asked for your personality,' I told her and she looked at me shocked.

'I love Grace,' Crystal replied and I frowned slightly. 'My favourite of Xav's cousins,'

'I love her too,' I said.

'Stupid statement,' She replied and I decided I liked Crystal too. 'But you're not just concerned about Grace, are you? You keep messing up your words, I think I was the only one who noticed, you kept saying that we need to get them, find them. Not her, not Grace, but like there is more than one,' Crystal added and I raised my eyebrow.

'You're smart,' I added and she continued to look at me and I looked at the sealant on the window. 'She's pregnant, no one knows. It's just us two who know. We found out when she was in the hospital and I told her just before she left.' I said and looked at Crystal, whose mouth was dangling open. 'What, you asked,' I joked.

'How far gone?'

'Seven weeks, well, about eight and a half now,' I said, 'Extremely early days,' I said.

'Oh, shit,' Crystal whispered. 'Xav said there wasn't something right with her but it wasn't overly a concern, that would explain that then, but she's fine, that's what you need to focus on Luke.'

'What if she isn't fine when she comes out, though?' I whispered.

'You've seen the extent of the family and this isn't even half of it. From what I can tell everyone loves Grace. They will make sure she is okay. There is fourteen of us, and if you add in Misty, Angel and Summer and then Marcus, Hal and Alex, and you can't forget Jack and Marcus, and there are more cousins to come too, and more uncle and aunts who just couldn't make it, there will be more than enough of us to get Grace back up and functioning again,' Crystal said to me. 'I know it's tough, but you need to focus on getting her and the little one back safe,' Crystal said quietly, so no one else could hear apart from us too and I hugged her slightly, thankful to feel like I had someone else on my side. She smiled back.

'They'll be fine,' Crystal said to me.

'They'll be fine,' I repeated and I had started to feel like she might be. She is a fighter, and she won't give up.

* * *

Hello! Here's a slightly happier one (or at least has a tiny bit more hope than the last chapter!) and the Benedict crew have arrived too! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed on the last chapter, I cannot believe how many of you like this! It's incredible! Thank you so much!

Also - has anyone heard Ed Sheeran's new songs? I've had them on repeat since yesterday morning!


	21. Chapter 21

**Twenty One**

Later that day, Alec got the commands to take me up to the training room, which was a few floors above us. However, he took me the shorter route, showing me the main ways out of the building with a quick point to a large lift, used to ship freight and pallets of supplies up to wherever we are. I frowned as Alec was in front of me, walking along the corridors with a more confident gait that showed authority and I knew it was fake and there was a small boy in there who wanted to get out of this hell and join back into the real world. I owed him that, at least. Even though he had no family and no other half, it doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a life.

We got up to the gym and he passed me a black gym sack and I looked up and frowned at him.

'Your pyjamas aren't any good for a workout,' He said and gestured into a back room and I followed. It was a large changing room, two lines of benches with pegs and around two hundred lockers and I wondered how many people lived here. He switched on the overhead fans used to clean steam from the built in shower block before coming over and he started to whisper to me.

'It's been a while since you're gone, but Callus wants to get things moving with you. He said I cannot leave your side at all and I will die if I have to protect you, so he's getting twitchy. If I was you, play his game, don't piss him off and try not to get him so irked he uses his gift on you as you cannot fight your way out if you're asleep' Alec whispered to me and I nodded. He then left the room and I opened the gym bag and I was surprised to find decent clothes in there; a grey workout top that was men's sizing but roughly the same size and a pair of tight running three-quarter lengths that sat nicely on my calves, and some trainers in my size. At the bottom of the bag were a note and my mouth dropped open.

However, I knew despite this area being a dressing room there might still be cameras around, so I put the bag down on the side and pretended to dig through it as I unfolded the note. It was in a scruffy handwriting but it was just about understandable. It simply read, 'Too dangerous to say, heard that your Luke knows where you are and is planning a way to get you out. You need to learn to fight to help yourself, Alec,' and I smiled. Luke knew where I was and he was trying to get me out? He could persuade anyone he wanted to come and help too so I knew he must have a decent team to even attempt to get me out. But Alec was right – if I had to escape by myself in order to meet Luke, I needed to learn how to fight as well. Mildly unwillingly I stripped off my clothes, trying to change into a sports bra with the least amount of exposure time possible, uncomfortable there was cameras around. The same with the bottoms, and there was a jacket hanging up on the other bench and I jogged over to grab it, the room freezing with the air con now on. I took a moment as I passed the mirror, noticing I had the smallest of bumps possible; no one else would notice it apart from me and most likely Luke as well. It looked like I had put on a tiny bit of weight and I took a jagged breath. I pulled down my shirt again pretending to have just adjusted the bust line of my sports bra which was uncomfortable before throwing the jacket over my shoulder.

I walked out back into the gym where Alec was standing in the middle, taping his hands with boxing tape. I frowned and he gestured to the other packet of tape on the floor.

'We're boxing, it's good to build upper body strength, stamina and it's good to get people in shape,' He said with a bit of fake arrogance.

'Have you done boxing before?'

'A few months at the gym and when I was a kid too,' I said and he smiled.

'Let's get down to business, then,' He said.

For what I could tell, I was in Callus' Hell building for a few more days at the boxing gym I attended with Alec and sure enough, being in the good books helped me out. Sure enough, my life became a relative system. Every "morning" even though I had no idea what time it was anymore, I would wake up with Alec asleep on the sofa, have a brief breakfast of toast and a glass of orange juice and the tablets that were on the work top – resisting meant being knocked out with them being forced down me or in a liquid solution in a saline drip and god knows how many hours I lost through that – before a six hour gym session with only a break for lunch before Alec would escort me to Callus' board room where occasionally I would be measured for clothes and so on.

But I knew what his plan was and it made me cringe every time I thought about it, him coming anywhere near me. I had noticed his eyes were wandering up and down my body, and within the last day or two, his hands started caressing my waist and I wanted to crawl into a ball and wait for Luke. However, my faith in Luke's rescue mission was diminishing and fears started to crawl into my head – I must have been gone for over two weeks now and apart from that one conversation we had telepathically, I hadn't been able to contact him.

'Gym?' I said, washing the plates of mine and Alec's breakfast and there was no reply. I turned around.

'No, Callus' wants you at his office,' Alec said sadly and my heart dropped.

'Why?'

'He didn't say, he just told me to deliver you and wait here for you,' Alec said before meeting my eyes and there was a look and my stomach dropped. 'Come on,' He said sadly.

I knew protesting was futile so I followed him, my heart racing and my palms sweating. I didn't even get my gym clothes to change into and was in a pair of shorts and a vest top and I hugged myself, feeling the corridors were very cold. I noticed that Alec was going the long way and I wondered if he had been caught out taking me short ways knowing my gift of remembering everything meant that I would remember the maze of corridors, fake doors, lift shafts and all over small items that would mean I would be able to get out of here through either the fire escape on the top floor or the lift shaft in the central column down to the bottom floor.

Alec knocked on the door, got the all clear then smiled sadly at me. He mouthed "you'll be fine" as he opened the door and suddenly, I wasn't too sure.

Callus sat at the desk, another suit that fitted him perfectly and he frowned at me as I came in, his eyes wandering over the display of skin – the figure hugging vest top showed off my waistline well, and the low cut showed off a bit more boob than I would want, and the shorts only just covered my bum. With no makeup and my hair tied up, I knew he wasn't admiring any "beauty" my face might hold.

'Grace, you've settled down well. Do take a seat,' Callus said and I tentatively sat on the chair furthest away from that monster. He smiled in appreciation. 'I'm sure you've noticed my plan coming along splendidly?'

'No?' I questioned and he raised an eyebrow at me, his wrist clicking in what I could only assume as a lazy threat. 'No, sir,' I corrected my answer.

'I've been training you not only to fight your way out of any compromising positions you'll find yourself in when I free you, but also to get you in shape, to get you prepared. And the fertility tablets you've been taking willingly every morning,' Callus said and I gasped audibly. I should have assumed that's what they were but I had hoped and prayed it was just vitamin tablets. There was an evil, slimy smile on his face. He stood up and come around to my side, his hand touching my shoulder and I slipped it away like it was a snake. Callus tutted before trying again.

His hand stayed on my shoulder and I tried my very hardest to not cringe or show any sign that I was repulsed by him. He smiled his breath in my ear before he gently kissed my neck. Now I was very very hard not to throw up, forcing my shields around me so he couldn't see my thoughts about Luke as I silently apologised to him for what felt like cheating. It wasn't by choice and I didn't enjoy it but tears rose in my eyes as Callus smiled at me reaction. I closed my eyes so he didn't see the pain that would have been reflected. I prayed it was over, but I felt a hand on my waist lifting up the vest top I was in and finger gently in my waistband. I couldn't help but flinch away – even when trying my hardest to act normal. Callus sighed, forcing me back to him with his nails digging in, clawing my side and I gasped as I felt a sharp pain as his fingernails drew blood on my lower right hip.

'That's what you get if you misbehave, remember?' Callus whispered and I nodded, my eyes still closed as I could feel my waistband getting wet with blood. I don't know how bad it was bleeding or how bad the cuts were but Callus' hands were back down there in a few seconds.

A sharp alarm filled the room and my eyes opened and my heart was pounding. Callus swore under his breath as someone – not Alec, but another man ran in wearing the exact same grey base layers I had seen Alec wearing. Where was Alec?

'Sir, we're being attacked,' The man said and I was filled with hope – was it Luke? Had he found me? Callus looked back over at me for a moment, gritting his teeth, before looking back over at the man.

'How bad?'

'Unsure at the moment, sir, but the attack so far is in more than one direction – both the east and west sides have been breached.' The man said.

'Fuck!' Callus shouted and the man pulled out black, large rectangular device from his pocket. 'I hope the guards have done their jobs,'

'No, sir north has been hit too. The guards down there set the alarm and are not reporting any more,'

'This will be your family, isn't it, you whore?' Callus shouted in my face and I shrugged. 'Stupid slut, I thought you were better than that, I thought we...' He shook his head. 'Stay here!' He shouted before running out the room, locking the door behind him.

I dropped my shields and within a second, Luke was already trying to contact me.

 _Grace, where the Hell are you? Are you okay?_ He asked. _We're in the building, we're coming to find you, do you have any idea where you are?_

 _Luke!_ I sighed, tearing up, so relieved to hear his voice. _I'm, er, I think I'm on the fifth floor down, the top floor is the gym and I'm five floors under that. I'm in the main business room, it's a big floor facing the Western lifts. There is a guard outside, named Alec, he's on our side, he'll help you find me._

 _Stay strong, sweetheart, we're heading up there now._

 _I love you, Luke._ I sighed and the conversation was struck off as Callus barged through the door, now red with anger.

'You fucking stupid slut! You're helping them! I heard!' He shouted at me, coming over and pinching my face in his hands. 'You're a pathetic scum of the Earth,' He spat in my face, so I did the same back.

He then telekinetically forced me against the wall, before pushing me against it and I let out a small whimper of pain. I felt something tie around my ankle, tight and hot. I flinched against the pain and tried not to cry as steaming metal, hot and angry, moulded itself tight around my leg, making a perfect cast. I started crying with the pain of the burns on my left ankle as the molten metal made its way up from my ankle, covering the bottom half of my leg before it cooled itself down, setting.

I finally met Callus' eyes, raw with anger and a burning sense of revenge.

'Did that hurt, Princess?' He sneered.

'Why,' I gasped.

'Now you cannot leave this room, that is moulded to your leg. You cannot get it off, only I can when I melt the metal off. Good, isn't it? I met someone who can control temperature, make fires and so on, and I learnt how to maximise his skills in order to melt metal. It's hot, but you'll learn your lesson. You'll constantly be branded by me if you escape,' He sneered before dropping me on the floor. I observed my leg for a bit, starting to black out, and noticed the silver metal had made a cast around half an inch thick around my entire lower part of my leg, and there was no way to get it off without hurting me in the process. The pain, however, had started to go and I knew that was a sign of third-degree burns, burning the nerves under the cast metal. I followed the chain and noticed it was chain linked to the wall so I wasn't going anywhere. I started to cry. There was no way I would be making it out.

Callus grinned as he noticed my defeat before walking back to the door.

'Oh, and Grace?' He said as I laid on the floor, the world spinning, but I looked over at him, noticing a gun in his hand. I gasped – when did he get that? 'Don't betray me again,' He said and fired the gun.

The pain this time was in my upper thigh of the exact same leg. I was not going anywhere. He left the room, locking it behind him again as I laid back on the floor, crying.

 _Please help me,_ I tried to contact Luke but I was cut off in my mind again, the message severed and there was a tidal wave of power in my mind and I was forced unconscious by Callus again.

 **Luke's POV**

This place was insane and I felt so sorry for Grace being locked up in here for nearly three weeks and not being able to help her sooner. The length of the mission to even get it approved and to get personnel to come and help was stupidly long and I knew with every minute longer without any more hope of Grace, no more telepathic conversations. I had no idea she was safe until, when we reached the main corridor on the West side, I finally managed to contact her. She sounded sad, desperate, but relieved we were here.

Although, I nearly wasn't here – everyone was refusing for me to go saying it was too dangerous, but I came anyway. I filled in my own paperwork to go, mixed them in with the others waivers, and the person completing the authorization of the mission never even noticed and by the time they did they had already assigned me to a job. Too late to back out, I grinned at everyone having a go, but half of Grace's family were very pleased with my plan and I didn't miss Crystal's grin as I was placed on the same team as her, and I told her what I had done. I had began to think of Crystal and Xav as personal friends compared to the cousins of my girlfriend.

There were seven of us "attacking" the Westside, before we would divert off and try and find Grace to bring her out. When I contacted her and she told me she was on the West side, I was so hopeful I could find her. Three of our team were at our escape, Phee holding the guards in freeze with two other guys from MI5 who were using their gifts to keep people from noticing the exit, and the other would persuade guys to leave them alone, giving us a solid escape. It left me, Crystal, Xav and Yves all together which would be a group of twenty and twenty-one year olds to any onlookers were tasked with getting Grace out of here, compared to everyone else who were trying to shut down Callus' hell he had constructed.

Yves showed us the floor plans on a tablet he had in his pocket.

'She said she was five floors below the gym?' He asked me and I nodded.

'She was breaking up badly but she said something about the west side lifts? So we're near her,' I said hopefully and felt a hand on my back. I knew it was Crystal, trying to track her down through our bond as she had been doing for the last week since she arrived. She knew all about me and Grace, all of our memories together but she didn't judge me (thankfully) as others did. Such as my father, who shunned me for spending so much time and money into this to get out "a normal common girl".

'The west lifts are just around the corner, but they will be in lockdown. The fifth floor down is an unknown quantity, it hasn't been mapped but if it's the main office and everything then that would make sense, but it's twenty floors up from here,' Yves said, showing the staircase that went the entire way up. Callus' appeared to have acquired a block of flats in Cornwall and converted them.

'Better get going then,' I said, checking the gun was still down my waistband which I had taken from the Jeeps after it was deemed that "royalty should not carry guns". Fuck those rules. Xav smiled at me.

'After you, Prince perky,' Xav joked, hitting my bum and I glared at him before glaring at Crystal. She clearly found out the nickname Grace had given me when we were around her brothers and she got drunk and thought "Prince Perky" was hilarious.

'I'm sorry but it was too funny not to share! We know exactly what Grace is like drunk,' Crystal whined as we all headed down the corridor and around the corner into the staircase where we all picked up a jog.

'She's a right laugh when drunk,' Xav said to the group and I heard Yves laughed.

'Remember when she was eighteen and came around in winter?' Yves said to Xav and I heard him cackle as we cleared floor by floor. Crystal remained silent as she was trying to follow the bond to find her location exactly.

'Oh and we all started doing beer pong but with double shots?' Xav said and I turned around mildly shocked.

'Oh God I know exactly where this is going,' I said as the alarm was shut down and I knew the third team on the North side had hit the power box, disabling all the alarms within the building, unlocking the previously locked doors and I heard the clank as the emergency exits electronics were released, allowing us access to the floor when we got there.

'She has very good aims and ended up doing eighteen or so shots in quick succession, then got so drunk she absolutely smashed Just Dance,' Yves explained. 'We have videos somewhere,'

'Oh Jesus,' I laughed.

'Remember how pissed Mum and Dad were, and she was like "I thought it was eighteen to drink in Colorado, sorry" and they believed her,' Xav said as we cleared the fifteenth floor. 'I wish I could lie like she could, she could hide anything from her entire family and no one would ever know,'

I turned around to see Crystal and she raised her eyebrows at me and nodded. 'Wouldn't be surprised if she did,' Crystal said. 'She's on the other side of the floor in a locked room of some kind – lock and key, but glass doors.'

We kept going and I kicked open the door to the twentieth floor and it fell open with a crack against the concrete walls. There was a young looking guy with blonde hair who looked at us, eyes wide in alarm. I pulled out the gun and pointed it at him and his mouth dropped.

'Who are you.' I demanded, pointing the gun at the kid. I could tell all three of Benedict's behind me stood in shock.

'Er, Alec, er.' He said and I knew that was the guy who was helping Grace. I put down my gun back into my waistband and Alec visibly relaxed.

'She was in the board room, I can't get in though and she's not replying, I don't know if she's still in there,' Alec said running around the corner and I chased after him.

'What do you mean she's not replying?' Xav said.

'I've been trying to call to her, see what is happening, but she isn't reply back, Callus might have gagged her,' Fury built in my stomach.

'She's still in there,' Crystal said confused as we went around a corner, before taking another sharp left down a corridor.

'She's hurt,' Xav said.

'What?' I asked him, 'How bad is she hurt?'

'She's unconscious at the moment but she's in pain,' Xav said. Alec stopped in front of the glass door. I turned to Xav and he pointed to somewhere just past the door. 'She's in the corner over there, unconscious,'

Without hesitating, I pulled the gun out and shot through the glass door, making a small hole in the middle and fracturing the rest of the glass door. All it took was a sharp kick and the entire thing broke.

'Oh Jesus,' I said as I walked in, seeing Grace on the floor, lying there in a puddle of blood.

'Keep it together Luke, we need to get her to a hospital ASAP,' Xav shouted at me. It was a while since anyone told me what to do. 'She's still alive and breathing but she won't stay this stable for long.' Xav said.

'Is there a key for the lock?' Yves immediately asked and he was checking out the silver metal clamp that extended from her ankle halfway up the calf, trying to see any weak mark in the metal before he stopped touching it, stepping back, and he looked over at Xav. I ran over to Grace, gently kneeling down. Sure enough, there was a small rise and fall in her chest but she had already lost a lot of blood and I wasn't too sure why. From her waist up, everything seemed fine and I noticed the very tiny start of the bump starting. But Crystal, Xav and Yves were all over focusing on her legs. I didn't notice I was crying until I watched a small tear of water hit Grace.

'What's happened to her?' I asked.

'She's been shot, that's all the blood she's seen. It's about a pint and a bit so we need to get her to the chopper,' Xav said, his hand on her upper thigh, using his gift to do something.

'Is there anything you can do?'

'The only thing I can do is seal it up to stop any more blood loss and repair some of the muscle but they'll destroy that at the hospital but it'll give her time,' Xav said like he was asking me permission. I nodded and he started working.

'What about the leg?' I asked and Crystal got up.

'It's all extremely burnt under there, it looks like they've melted the metal onto her leg,' Yves said, covering his mouth. 'That's most likely why she's out, the pain from that would have been,' He didn't finish the sentence. I looked over at her leg and the cast fitted her like a sock and my blood boiled. How dare the sick bastard.

'There's no way of getting off?' I asked.

'I'll have to melt one of the links instead and they'll take that off at the hospital. It won't affect her any more, but if she goes into shock her body will start shutting down, and then we can't do anything. We need to get her to the helicopter before that, we need to go,' Yves said and I noticed one of the links about four down from her leg was starting to glow red. Soon, the liquid turned to metal and started dripping off, freeing Grace.

'You carry her, Luke, I've done what I can and I'll monitor her stats as we get the Hell out,' Xav ordered me and I scooped up Grace noticing how much weight she had lost but she looked more toned like she had been working out hard since she had gone. Everyone filed out the room, and Alec looked at me wide eyed.

'Follow them,' I said, 'If Grace trusted you, I trust you too,' I said and he nodded before he ran after the others. I followed them.

I looked down at Grace and she looked like she was asleep in my arms and I kept tearing up as I watched as I carried her down the stairs, trying to keep up with the guy in front of me who kept waiting for me every few floors. Xav kept checking her pulse every floor or two as well, and he had a grim look on his face and I knew Grace was just holding on.

 _Grace, please baby, please be safe. Please hold on. I will never let you out of my sight again; I will do everything you've ever wanted. I will move in with you in our own little house together, we will have out baby. I will marry you. Please, please be safe._ I begged her. I kept talking to her as I cleared the floor and went straight out of the West exit. I just followed Xav down the dirt path that leads us to the West exit and down to the helicopter they had landed in order to get Grace away.

'Okay, Xav go with Grace, Luke and Alec and get her ass to a hospital and keep her safe,' Crystal ordered him and Xav saluted her before kissing her. I climbed on board, holding Grace in my lap as Xav sat next to her, her leg in his hand as he tried to heal her leg and I sat there in shock. There was some conversation at the door of the helicopter as two paramedics climbed on.

'Change of plan,' Crystal climbed on as Alec sat in the corner, hunched over. The paramedics shouted something at me and I frowned not hearing what they were saying. No one was making any sense until Xav took Grace off me, picking her up and carrying her over to the medical table.

 _Luke, you're going into shock._ Crystal said to me, sitting beside me. _You need to keep it together for Grace's sake, she needs you there. I know it's hard, believe me, I do, but you need to try and hold it together for her._

I nodded as I watched everyone work on Grace, hooking her up to machines and someone put an oxygen mask on her. It was only a ten-minute flight to the nearest helipad hospital where they had a theatre room prepped for her.

'Luke,' I heard someone say somewhere far away but I didn't care too much.

'Luke!' Xav called to me and I looked up as we were five minutes into the flight but it felt like eight years. 'She's waking up,'

'What?' I said, getting up and walking unsteadily over to her bedside. Sure enough, Grace was barely awake, blinking and squinting against the light above her in the military helicopter. There was life in her eyes, they shone bright and I knew that she would be okay. I knew that she would pull through.

'Grace, Grace, I'm here sweetheart,' I said to her, holding her hand. She didn't hold back, though, and her hand was freezing. Grace looked over at me, frowning, before flinching away from me, struggling to sit up and trying to escape into the corner and trying to kick me. The metal cast hit me hard in the chest and I gasped, half winded by the kick but the look in Grace's eye took my breath away. She realised who I was, and she looked terrified, sitting in the corner crying. She ripped open the skin Xav had fixed on her leg and one of the medical personals had injected her with something which knocked her out, calming her down.

Grace was terrified of me.

What happened to her?


	22. Chapter 22

**Twenty Two**

 **Luke's POV**

Grace made it through surgery, but even the surgeons said it was 50/50 if she would and it terrified me. Her body started shutting down as she went into shock soon after waking up and tearing open the bullet wound again caused more injury to her and extensive blood loss. The burns caused by the metal cast were third degree and they were unsure of the long lasting damage that it would cause cosmetically as well as movement-wise. They had removed the bullet and done what they could for the muscle and the cartilage – thankfully it was a few millimetres from hitting the bone and a fraction away from hitting a major artery – but we had to wait for her to wake up to see the damage. There were also claw marks on her hip that was infected but that was the least of her worries at the moment.

However, we knew we had to move her from the hospital she was in, as it was too close to where she was rescued from for her to be safe. Mum had requested her to move back into the ward in Saint Mary's where she was kidnapped, and I refused, so we settled for a private hospital ward in Somerset, two hours from the small hospital she was operated on. The hospital itself was lovely and clean, the staff were incredible and were specialists in the area. They allowed me to stay with her as well as letting her brother in at all kinds of unsociable hours to come and see her. It was alarming for Jack, though, as a nurse to start with he knew what kind of danger she was in but seeing his own sister lying there looking like death was pushing the buttons.

All of her cousins were hanging around too; the main cause for alarm was the fear and panic when she saw me in the helicopter. I sighed, leaning back into armchair they had in beside Grace's hospital bed and I rubbed my forehead. What had she got herself into? Why was she so scared when she saw me? She had been out for the count for three days now, the majority of it was the aesthetic for the operations and the pain she would have been if she woke up. They had major doubts about the baby, too, but the priority was stabilising Grace and the scan would come in the next three hours when she was due to start waking up.

I looked over at Grace who just looked so small in her hospital bed, tucked up with the blanket under her arms, with wires coming out of everywhere plugging her into machines that measured everything from blood pressure to heart rate to hydration levels. They were concerned at any minute her stats would drop and she would have to be operated on again.

'I'm so sorry, Grace, I let this happen to you,' I gently whispered to her body but there was no sign of a response – no increase in heart rate or anything. I took her hand. 'Please be safe,' I whispered, resting my forehead on her hand. 'Even if you hate me, just please be safe.'

 **Grace's POV**

I ached all over but more of a dull thud of a pain. The only way I could describe it was when I went to the gym with Mycelia the first week we moved in with each other and decided to follow YouTube tutorials for the "ultimate leg workout" and we did squats holding kettlebells and lunges with seven kilograms of weights without stretching. Both of us woke up with dull aches in muscles we never knew we even had before. It was that odd level of, well, it wasn't pain but discomfort, all over though. I could feel some sort of mask over my mouth and nose and a pinching in my arm and an odd call of machines and I frowned. How did I end up here? My memory felt fuzzy and I couldn't remember why I was here, even though I didn't know where "here" was but I knew "here" wasn't at home in our shared flat in Cambridge. No – I moved out of there months ago. But I couldn't place myself at any point in time after that. It was like my memory had been fiddled with – but by who?

I took a deep breath before opening my eyes.

I was in some kind of fancy arse hospital room; ceiling to floor length mirrors leading to a corridor on one side and a soft seated area with a table covered in leaflets on the other side, but no one was seated there. However, I noticed a coffee cup, so someone had been there recently or hospital cleaners would have sorted that out. I was tucked into bed, my head elevated and an oxygen mask over my lower face and I immediately pulled it off and flung it on the floor feeling like I was being suffocated. I couldn't see any injured on my arms apart from the odd bruise and small thin cut that could have been from anything, but there again I was on a medical drip of some kind so I knew there must be an injury to account for that. Better not worry about it, though, first things first was to remember why I was here.

My gift made it interesting; it was like constantly having a scribe in your brain. Imagine carrying out your day to day life like normal, but that scribe was behind you constantly writing itself and at the end of every day, tucking the scroll away into a small box, and that box was allocated to the week it was in, the week box leading to a month box, and the month box leading to a chest full of day to day memories of the year. The year boxes were in a storage facility and you can have constant access to these scribes. Perfect for exams, pain in the ass for remembering the deaths of family and friends, or when you can remember in detail your own parents funeral and their deaths.

I knew my immediate memory, like everyone else's memory system, had no recollection of what happened to lead to this current event of the hospital room. A lot of things can do that; alcohol, trauma, shock, drugs – anything. I wasn't overly concerned. I could have just hit my head and my brother flew into action and forced me into the hospital he works at. Although this doesn't look like a crammed paediatric ward in a public hospital. This looked fancy.

It felt like there was something missing from my life – something massive. I closed my eyes, frowning, just about to access my memory scribes when I realised who I was missing. Luke! I opened my eyes and checked the room again and sure enough noticed a jacket of his was just behind the machines that were hooked up to me, and I'm confident the mug in the soft seating areas was his. He always drank coffee. Like some kind of addiction. I remember waking up some days and making it for him before crawling back into bed, and he would always wake up and hug me. I could remember him holding me when I was ill, and the late night conversation we used to have about stupid things about what size shoe giraffes would wear and so on. Where was he now, though? I found it hard to believe that he would just leave my side to go home and leave his jacket. So, he would still be floating around in the hospital.

I debated about just waiting for him to come and find me to tell me what happened, but that would take too long. I know Luke likes a nice chat and I didn't have time for that. I closed my eyes again, working out the date that I could last remember. The drugs they had given me, some kind of strong pain killer and perhaps anaesthetic – why did I need an operation though? – were playing around with my brain and I kept remembering odd bits of information. More through luck than anything else I found the day we had left to head back to the palace, stopping by to Jack and Marcus' place on the way by. I drank too much, and Luke carried me to bed whilst talking to his brother. A few hours later, I threw up. The memory then faded to black. The next days were black too. The day after that, though, only had a few bits in it – finding an old man who looked ill and telling me about my childhood, about the time I walked to school with my bag open and so on, and it went blank again. And the day after that. And another day. Then the man called me into his room after being escorted around by a cute looking teenage boy who seemed lost in the weird corridors of white and told me his plan. To make me reject Luke, marry Theo, for him to get me pregnant with his child, kill Luke and Theo and their parents, then claim the throne and announce the higher power of Savant's like some kind of terrible movie made on a crappy budget.

Before I could look at anymore the door opened in the hospital room and I held my breath. Someone walked over to the bed, gently touched my hand before holding it and they kissed it. There was a scrape of a chair on the linoleum floor and a sigh. I knew it was Luke. I smiled before opening my eyes.

I managed to catch a glance of him for a second my brain still reeling from the memory scribe trip, and he looked awful. He had lost weight and looked shattered, his hair unkempt and I can bet that he hadn't showered in a day or two as well.

But then, images flooded my brain.

Luke had tied me up in a dark room in some place in the country. He had starved me, laughed at me for being pathetic enough to think he would ever love me. He left me naked, for dead, he threatened to kill my brother and Marcus in front of me. He showed me videos of him setting fire to their home and it burning to the ground. He showed me videos and pictures of him cheating on me, which tore me apart, before showing me videos of him trying to gun down Mycelia and Sara in their own house. He killed Mycelia. He left me for dead as he flew over to Colorado and setting fire to my cousin's family home in Wrickenridge, killing six of them including my incredibly close friend and cousin's wife-to-be Crystal. He did all of that to mock me. To make me realise how pathetic and stupid I am.

I teared up, trying to get away from him but the blankets were straight-jacketing me, my body was tied down to the bed. I realised in shock that I was quite literally tied down to the bed.

'Oh my God, Grace,' Luke whispered before standing up, 'Calm down, you're okay,' He said.

'Get away from me, please, leave me alone,' I started crying, attempting to kick out at him and his face dropped. He touched my hand gently and I clawed it. He flinched back and I saw the blood I had drawn from my nails. Ha.

'Grace?' He said tentatively.

'Get away from me!' I shouted loud enough, 'You're a murderer, get away from me!' I was fighting the restraints on my bed but all I could see his Luke's sneering face in the dark mocking me, showing me how he causes the deaths of my family and my friends. I was crying now as Luke stood there trying to calm me down. I had pulled out several of my medical lines but I didn't care, he had to go. He had to be locked up. Machines were beeping all over the place.

Why wasn't he locked up?

Nurses ran into the room to try and control the situation as I kept yelling at Luke, calling him a murderer and he stood there shocked. Yeah, the little bastard, I'll tell everyone your precious secrets then we will see how you like it. But he stood there like his whole world had collapsed as he watched me struggle to fight off the nurses to get to him, to show them how I felt.

Nurses held me down, tying my hands down as I continued to lash out, trying to kick Luke despite an agonising pain in my right leg. A nurse, who was shouting commands at everyone else, injected something into the needle in my hand and the world went out of focus again.

'Grace,' I heard someone say in a sing-song voice and I squinted, my head foggy and pain encased the lower half of my body. 'Come on Grace, it's time to wake up,' The person repeated and I ended up opening my eyes. Sure enough, I was in the exact same hospital bed but my hands were tied down to the bed in white restraints and I knew my waist was tied down to the bed too. All the medical lines were back in, but the windows had been blacked out. I blinked – why where the windows blacked out? I frowned, looking over at the chair beside the bed.

Xav sat there, leaning forward and watching me. 'Morning,'

'I'm so sorry,' I gasped, starting to cry. My boyfriend killed his fiancé and here he is, waiting for me. A tear fell down my cheek and Xav leant forward and wiped it away from me. I flinched away, unable to deal with my own grief and panic. 'I'm sorry Xav, I had no idea, I'm so sorry,'

'Why are you apologising?' Xav asked.

'Crystal,' I whispered and he just frowned.

'What about her, Grace, what is it you are seeing?' He asked in a calming tone.

'Crystal, she died. Luke... Luke murdered her,' I whispered back to him, trying not to choke on my own tears. Xav leant back.

'She's not dead, Gracie, she's perfectly fine.' Xav said and I frowned.

'But I saw it,' I muttered, frowning at the floor.

'What else did you see?' He asked, holding my hand and starting to lower my pulse so I could speak freely.

'He burnt down Jack's house and your family home. He killed Mycelia too. And Crystal, Sky, Zed, Will, Uriel and Phee. They're all dead because of Luke, because of me, he wouldn't have if he didn't know me and if I wasn't so stupid,' I bawled to him and Xav hugged me, before untying my restraints from my arms so at least I could move a bit more freely.

'Everything you said just then, Grace, all of that never happened. Everyone you listed is alive and well and the majority of them are in this hospital right now to try and make sure that you're better. Do you know how you got here?' Xav told me softly, handing me a tissue. I wiped my eyes but it didn't make sense.

'What do you mean everyone is alive?'

'Grace, none of that happened. I don't know why you are saying that but I can tell you are extremely distressed and you're starting to feel pain, but why do you think you are in the hospital?' Xav asked me calmly.

'Where are they?' I asked, not believing him. He sighed, looking at the glass before looking back at me. A few second later, the door opened and Crystal walked in, followed by Sky and Zed holding hands and Will shortly after. My mouth dropped open and I stared at them. They all stood around me slightly awkwardly – Xav remained in his chair watching me intently, Sky and Zed stood down by the end of my bed, Zed's arm around Sky and Will came to join me sitting on the edge on my bed. I poked Will, just to make sure he was alive and wasn't some kind of fancy projection. Sure enough, he was human and he just frowned at me chuckling under his breath.

'I don't understand,' I whispered back to Xav, Crystal now standing beside him 'I know what Luke showed me,'

'Since you were kidnapped, Luke hasn't seen you Grace. You only spoke once telepathically and that's how we managed to find you,' Crystal said softly.

'But,' I muttered and realised what he said. 'What do you mean, kidnapped?'

All of them looked over at each other before Will nudged me over and joined me on the bed, kicking his feet up and grabbing the remote from the side. The TV flicked on and he changed it to the news channel.

'Grace Williams, the long-term girlfriend of His Royal Highness Prince Luke has been found, and is reported to be safe but in a critical but stable condition in hospital. It is unsure what happened to her during the near three-week period she was missing but some reports claim Grace was found with third-degree burns and gunshot wounds,' The woman said before Will mute it.

'Kidnapped?' I muttered.

'Abducted, more like,' Xav corrected me. 'What do you remember? What's the last thing you remember?'

'I remember Luke...'

'No, before it all went dark, what's the last non-sinister memory you have, in your mind scribes?' Xav said to me softly, knowing how my gift worked. I swallowed.

'Er, me getting pissed at Jack's house,'

'Okay, so do you want me to explain what happened? We don't know most of it but we can tell you what we do know from our side,' Xav said softly and I nodded. Sure enough, everyone in the room made themselves comfortable with Will hugging me to his side when he knew I was scared, Sky and Zed sat on the sofa in the corner of the room and they kept telepathically talking to Xav and Will as Sky was monitoring how I was feeling and Xav was the spokesman.

They explained that after Jack's, Luke drove me back to the Palace where I fell asleep for an hour or so, woke up and was violently ill before blacking out and cracking my head open. The wound itself healed fairly nicely but at the time, there was a lot of blood loss and Luke was scared so he took me to a hospital in London to get me checked out. They stitched my head back together and when I woke up, Luke went to call a nurse.

That's when I was abducted. They showed me the footage of myself asleep in a hospital bed as a man came in, injected me with something as I tried to kick at him before I went limp and he picked me up, threw me over his shoulder and chucked me in the back of a van and drove away.

Xav explained that Luke waited five days before telling the media, under Theo's instructions, which caused the entire country to start hunting me down but to no avail. Luke called over my entire extended family, primarily the Benedict's and some family friends and they all used their gifts together to find me based on a telepathic conversation I had with Luke at one point. It took over a week to make sure there were enough personnel and enough training to get me out "safe" but everyone confirmed Luke had no part to play in my abduction and he had been coping fairly shit at the Palace by himself, out of his wits with worry.

'I mean, I think we would all like you to tell us next time you're dating a Prince, Grace, quite a surprise that phone call was,' Zed teased and I looked at him. Sky laughed gently.

'Way to go,' Crystal piped up from her place behind Xav and I looked over at her, and I saw the massive grin on her face and I smiled back.

'Yeah, we're all jealous that your Soulfinder is the Prince of England,' Will said, hugging me a bit tighter. 'Makes you a Princess,'

I groaned. 'Don't start that – where is Luke?' Everyone looked at each other. 'Can I see him? Can I talk to him?'

Silence before Sky cleared her voice. 'Luke is also in hospital, Grace,'

'Is he okay?' I asked and everyone once again looked at each other.

'You attacked him, Grace, twice.' Zed said and I looked at him like he was insane. I checked everyone else's faces and they were grim.

'What do you mean?'

'Are you in pain?' Xav asked me and I shook my head.

'My muscles hurt a bit like I went for a long run without stretching?' I answered back and Xav nodded.

'You were hurt when you were abducted, quite badly.' Xav said, 'That's why I'm not your medical buddy and have to stay in this room with you when you're awake,'

'What happened? Can't be anything bad? What happened to Luke?' I asked, tearing up.

Xav gently pulled the blanket that was across my body so I could see what happened and I gasped – my entire leg was bandaged up, but there was blood coming through the bandage at the top. I wiggled my toes and whilst it hurt, I could do it. 'Oh my God,' I whispered.

'You were shot,' Will said, gesturing to my upper thigh, 'The bullet was removed, there will be nerve damage but you were moving it fine after it happened so they're not too concerned. The main concern was the burns,'

'Burns? There was a fire?'

'No,' Crystal said. 'The person who held you, basically, we found you in this awful anti-Good Savant camp in the main person's office room chained up, unconscious. It looked like the man who held you, Callus is the name he goes by, could melt things like Yves' could. He melted liquid metal compound onto your leg, which as you can imagine burnt like hell, you have third degree burns down your entire leg and a part of it is now infected but it's only minor. They've done skin grafts and Xav is making sure it won't scar too bad, but it'll be there. They're amazed you pulled through, you're quite a little fighter, ' Crystal told me and I frowned at my leg.

'How can I not remember that much pain?'

'We don't know, you responded to Luke's telepathy about five minutes before we came and found you, so we believe that Callus wiped your memory of your abduction and everything you did in there, and changed it so you believe it was Luke. Luke did say when you managed to speak that one time the plan was for you to overrule the monarch or something, reject Luke and bring Savants to the crown of some bullshit. It was like what happened with Sky in Vegas, that kind of level,' Will said and I looked over at Sky.

'So it's reversible?'

'We don't know yet, but there must be a way,' Crystal added.

'Why is Luke in hospital – you said I attacked him? I wouldn't, surely?' I muttered and everyone agreed. I wasn't a violent person.

'Fear,' Sky said. 'I was watching you when you woke up, you were terrified of Luke. You did it in what you thought was self-protection.'

' You kicked him when you had the metal cast on your leg in the helicopter, and it broke two of his ribs, and when you woke up with him in this room, you clawed him and cut him pretty bad.' Xav said. 'I'm on Prince Perky's medical team too, I'll fix him up and then we can work out a way to get you back to normal and back together. They're on about moving you back into Buckingham Palace, though, where no one can find you again and under heavy security. The Queen has already invited us all to say for as long as we want, bless her, so we will all still be around. We're changing it so only Vick and Trace can interview you to save you from any more upset, alright?' Xav said and I smiled.

'How did you know about Prince Perky,' I said with a smile.

'You remember that?' Crystal asked shocked.

'Yeah,' I said tentatively.

'Oh,' Crystal said and everyone looked at her. 'I was using your bond to track you down, and Luke didn't quite know how to keep all of your naughty memories secret. I know _everything,_ ' Crystal mocked as I yawned.

'Right, you need your sleep, Gracie. We'll work this out,' Will said. 'It's what we do best, isn't it?' Everyone chimed in their agreement before saying goodbyes with kisses and hugs. Everyone filed out the door before Xav made a funny noise, came jogging back in and grabbed his coat from the side before leaning down and whispering to me.

'The baby, by the way, is completely fine. Slightly raised heartbeat but they're monitoring it. Congratulations, by the way, I claim Godparent, though,' Xav whispered to me and I teared up. The baby is fine? Xav kissed my forehead with a sweet smile on his face before jogging out the room.

I rolled onto my side despite the slight pain and closed my eyes, relieved that the baby was fine. However, I hurt Luke. Badly, too, I broke his ribs. I rejected him. He must be dying.

 _I'm sorry Luke,_ I whispered to him telepathically.

 _Grace?_ He replied back immediately and whilst his voice filled me with hatred and torment I knew he didn't do anything. _It's not your fault, don't apologise, we'll find a way around this. I love you so much._

 _I think I love you too._ Was the only reply I could muster, before feeling so guilty I cut him off and pretended to be asleep.

 **Hello!**

 **Updating quite a bit recently with slightly longer chapters. Do we like it this way? What do you think? I dunno if I should continue or just leave it here or so on.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Twenty Three**

 **Luke's POV**

It was killing me off just being able to watch Grace behind darkened one way glass and not being in the room with her, holding her as falls asleep or wiping up her tears as she cries, or holding her hand as family members went into the room to explain what they knew about her abduction – a topic she couldn't even remember. She was making progress, she was able to talk about me and memories we had together but the second she saw me, or pictures of me, or any form of news article of me she would break down again and try to escape. She had told everyone what she was seeing of me, how I had burnt down her brother's house, killed her best friend before flying over to Colorado and burning down her cousin's family home, killing five of them too. She knew it was fake, everyone she said died in the fire and Mycelia had gone in to speak to her, telling her none of it had ever happened and she knew it didn't but no one could work out why it was happening.

She could also remember snippets of what had happened when she was kidnapped; she could remember being questioned about me and Theo relentlessly, and they used to hurt her when they weren't satisfied with the answers. The most important part she had said to us so far, giving us all strength, was that Callus' had grilled her about me, Theo and our parents asking if we were Savant's and trying to get some juicy gossip out of her and she protected us, saying we weren't Savant's and there was nothing new going on apart from everyday life. Crystal had examined our bond from the safety of this side of the glass and she could see that someone had changed part of it. She described the bond as a piece of ribbon, and someone had sliced half of her side, and locked that away and covered the path leading there with prickles. She thinks that there was potential to get it back but we couldn't do it in the hospital, or when she was asleep, or when she was still on medicines as it can harm her.

'They're gonna try and move her back home as soon as they can, she's getting medical clearance,' Theo said coming up beside me. He had waited in the hospital for me with her, only going back to the Palace to talk to Mum and Dad about what was happening with her and bringing me more clothes. Mum was absolutely horrified about what had happened to her and even Dad seemed concerned despite his prejudices. I think he was coming around on the idea of her as she hadn't betrayed the Palace or any of us four when she was kidnapped. And even that one night she contacted me telepathically, she got punished severely but told Callus, the guy we had arrested, that she had been contacting her cousin instead of me, which got her badly punished. So father had gained a bit more respect for her and was concerned about how she was doing.

'Yeah, she still hates me, though,' I mumbled, playing with the seal of the one-way glass. She was sitting on the hospital bed, injured leg hanging off the side and sitting on the other leg on her laptop watching Netflix under my account – a test of some sort to see if she could use items that belong to me without smashing up the laptop. And according to the stream of Sherlock she was watching, the answer was yes.

'Crystal says she can fix it,'

'She's not 100% sure,' I said and Theo sighed. I knew I wasn't making his life easy by constantly fighting everything he said. 'Sorry, it just sucks,'

'Sorry about the baby too,' Theo said and I looked over at him shocked. 'I had to sign the medical records; I'm on about you missing the scan,'

It sucked. Grace had just passed the ten week point with the baby and they did a scan with her awake, the first time she had ever seen our baby and she just sat there watching the scan with a grin on her face, and they listened to the heartbeat. All whilst I was on the other side of this glass, wanting nothing more than to be in that room with her but at least the baby, our baby, was alive and doing fine.

'So when are they going to move her,' I said, sniffing, not wanting to talk about how Grace keeps rejecting me. Theo looked at me for a second but continued to the point.

'Potentially tonight, they're getting two choppers. One with Grace and the Palace's medical personnel who will be fully briefed on her and a handful of her family including Crystal and Xav will go with her. A second one will be sent ten minutes later for us two and some more family. Those who don't really need to come back via chipper will be sent a car,' Theo said. 'At least when she's home, we can get her back on tracks,' Theo added and I nodded. That's if things were easy.

We both watched Grace for a while, happily watching Sherlock on the laptop. As I watched, she leant over and grabbed a small A5 notepad from beside her bed, one that I bought her a few weeks back and a pen before writing something down in it. She wrote for about three pages, turning it each side before Theo sighed.

'I'll go and see how the plans are coming along for her,' Theo said, hitting my arm in a comforting gesture before leaving the room. I continued to watch Grace write frowning slightly before continuing. She then ripped out the paper from the pad, folding it up small and sticking something from her bedside cabinet. I watched holding my breath as she got up from the bed, testing the weight on her bad leg flinching at the pain as she held her breath for a second. I debated about calling the nurse but they were on about letting her move around her room in small steps. She had to try and get used to using her incredibly injured and bandaged leg again or there will be more damage than there is now.

A few minutes later she was stable enough and awkwardly hobbled over to the door, her eyes filled with tears as she ducked down and pushed the pieces of paper under the door, before walking back. I immediately walked over to the door, pulling through the paper before holding it close to my chest. She knows someone is always watching her.

I opened the letter, amazed when I noticed she had printed my name at the top. I looked up at Grace who had just made it back to the hospital bed, eyes filled with tears, before she lay down on the bed.

 _Luke,_ it read in neatly printed italic handwriting.

 _I know you are there, behind the glass, watching me. I know you're hurting because of me. Everyone is saying its fine - which it's not either of our faults and I just need to take my time and stop blaming myself. And I know it's not my fault I'm seeing these bullshit lies, but it is my fault in a way? I let someone do this to me and I can't remember who. It's killing me, Luke, it really is. I can remember every pointless moment of my life, I can remember every time I brushed my teeth (and every time I didn't,) and I can remember every single second I spent washing plates up or tidying my room as a kid but I cannot remember the three weeks where everything changed and some sick bastard tried to get me to hate you and to tear us apart. And it's worked, hasn't it? We can't be in the same room and for twenty hours a day, you're standing behind one-way glass, making sure I'm okay without ever being able to see me. That must be killing you off if you do love me as much as everyone says you do. I can't even remember if you do love me. I know that I loved you, but how can I be sure if I cannot see you? I know I miss you but that's it?_

 _You know when you sit on your foot for about four hours, and it goes past pins and needles and somehow past dead foot too and it feels like you're walking on some form of watermelon and you know it's wrong that it feels this way and it's painful but there is nothing you can do about it and you sit there unable to fix it. It's like that. I want you back. I want us again. I want what people say you promised me. I want our own small place somewhere, I want you to back to university and finish your degree and I want to be there for your graduation, with our baby. I want our baby to be safe, and for us two to raise it together. But I can't even see how that is going to work if I can't remember what happened to me and I can't unsee these stupid things that I know never happened. I think I am losing my mind and it's killing me off too Luke. I don't know who I am anymore. It hurts. I'm broken. I need putting back together but no one knows how._

 _I don't know why I'm doing this, but I know that they're trying to move me out of there back to the Palace so they can start working on me with their Savant powers, and mainly Crystal to work out why I think you're a murderer even though you're not – I know you're not – and I know Theo told you. Here's the secret. I know you've been there all the time because two days ago, you accidently pressed the buttons on the control panel and turned off the microphone from the family room where you are into this private room. The speakers are on the bed, I turn them down to near enough silent when someone is in here with me. I've been hearing what you've been saying all this time. I love you too, I think. I'm sorry about the scan, as well. But I'll include the ultrasound in this letter so you can see our baby. The wiggly lines remind me of you. It doesn't – it just looks like loads of wiggly lines – but that's what people say in films._

 _I'm sorry, Luke, I really am. I want this to work out and I want to be normal again. I want our old lives back, the one where you sat on the sofa watching shitty TV and I used to cook and you'd complain about making complicated dished and begged for takeout. But if you want to leave me, I will understand eventually. I'm not the best person for you and especially not now. None of this is easy for you, but I'm sure I love you and sometimes love means letting go of the people you love the most._

 _Xxx_

I looked up at her, tears in my eyes and our child's ultrasound in my hand. She was in the bed now, silently crying to herself but was pretending to be asleep and I knew what I had to do. I grabbed my Nike holdall which contained all of my stuff and stormed out the family room and out of the hospital. Grace was wrong, but she was so right.

 **Grace's POV**

I knew the second I woke up that I was back in my room in Buckingham Palace, in an empty double bed that was freshly made warm sheets with the army of machines joining me making the odd beeping noise. I also knew that they were weaning me off all medicines that they could so Crystal could try and do her thing for me and Luke. But what I wrote in the letter was killing me off but I knew it was for the best. I know I had to give Luke a chance to leave so he could have a normal happy life without the burden off me if I never got better. He could marry a princess like his father demanded; have hundreds of kids of pure royal blood. The thought upset me but I had to offer him that.

I opened my eyes and immediately gasped. My room had been completely changed and I wondered if I was even in the same room anymore. All around the perimeter of the room was warm white fairy lights, blinking happily in sweet rows and drops. Under them was a pretty pattern on coloured fairy lights, making the entire room look magical. My mouth dropped as I struggled to sit off, pulling off the heart rate monitor and switching it off at the wall. Someone had strung a line of string around the room, stopping shy of the door, and every twenty centimetres was a Polaroid photo, stuck on with a small peg. There was a photo on the wall with a small flag of my birth date at the bottom corner and I twisted my head and realised the string kept circling around the room, leading to the top corner, near the shelf by the door.

I shuffled to the photos, my leg starting to really hurt, but curiosity got the better of me. The photos at the bottom ranged from baby photos with Jack holding me, or a toddler me fussing our German Sheppard we had when we were young, to nights out in university when the string was higher. There must have been over three hundred. I followed the string around the room, tears falling down my cheek. I got to the far corner of the room, where an entire row of string was photos of me and Luke, but Luke's face was covered so I didn't lash out. I wiped my tear with the back of my hand as I saw the last photo was the ultrasound copy I posted to him under the door. I was full on crying by this point.

It took a moment for me to calm down enough to realise there was a small arrow on the ultrasound, pointing towards the shelf next to the ultrasound. On there was a plush toy elephant, three pairs of baby booties, a large ball of string similar to the one that the photo was strung on and a letter, with my name in Luke's handwriting on the front.

I full on sobbed for a few minutes, before realising how pathetic it was and I finally pulled myself back together, wiping my tears off my face and steadying my breath before I looked at the baby booties on the side – three pairs of small cotton knit converse styled crib shoes, in the colours of my three pairs of favourite converse – black, white and dark grey. I picked up the letter. It wasn't very long in comparison to mine with the words all fitting onto one sheet of paper, but I took a jolted breath as I unfolded the paper.

 _Grace,_

 _Perhaps you view yourself as broken, and perhaps you are hurting. I think we both are at the moment, you're right, but you need to understand that I am never leaving your side. The photos in your room are what you have been through so far, and I'm sure you remember them all. And at the moment we're both going through a shit period but we will find a way around it._

 _I love you to the moon and back, Grace. I will never let you go. I will never leave you and I will never leave our baby either. I won't ask why you would even think I would do that, but it's not happening. I can't write down how much you mean to me, but I will fight for you forever. If this doesn't work with Crystal, I will keep hunting to find out how to fix you. We're not falling at the first hurdle._

 _As for the string, that's for the rest of our journey together and the same with our child's first toy and first few pairs of crib shoes. We have a future together, Grace, I love you. Please don't give up on this. Please give all of this a chance. Please don't give up on me, on this._

 _Luke xxxxxx_

I hugged the toy elephant to my chest, along with the letter and started to cry again.

I had to give it a chance. Luke made that clear. He was the only person worth going through all of this pain for.

 **Hello!**

 **Slightly fluffier,** lighter **chapter as it the last ones were a bit dark and a bit, well, hopeless for them both. I'm still unsure if I should finish this, or at least continue with having some bits from Luke's POV as it would be kinda dull just to have it all from Grace who, at the moment, spends the majority of the time asleep or in surgery. Do you like having the odd bit from Luke's side? I really don't know.**

 **But thank you to everyone who has followed this story and reviewed, it really does mean so much! x**


	24. Chapter 24

**Twenty Four**

I had been in my room for about five days after being brought back to the Palace and I was getting sick and tired of everyone creeping around me like I was going to break. Someone had taken down the picture of my ultrasound, leaving it tucked under my pillow and replaced the prominent gap with another photo of myself and Luke. They also had moved the baby booties to somewhere I didn't know, and the toy elephant now sat on my bedside table, a reminded to myself but to anyone else who walked it, it would just look like a toy elephant.

My visitors were frequent; the first day everyone just let me to rest with the odd nurse coming in or Xav to check my stats and pain levels and so on. I spent the majority of the day sleeping, trying to get myself back into a cycle of sleeping at night and being awake during the day. However, I forgot how hard a major trauma is on a body and I just slept constantly. In my waking hours, I was either being interviewed by Vick or Trace to see if I remembered anything else, or talking to Crystal about Luke, or having physiotherapy and occupational therapy for my leg which was healing incredibly well thanks to Xav, or writing letters to Luke. It turns out, both of us could write to each other with no aversive effects, and I could remember him a bit more without flipping off. As a test, I took off the sticky label covering Luke's face on one of the pictures and I didn't attack him. My body started shaking uncontrollably but I didn't attack the photo, ripping it to shreds.

'When can I see Luke?' I asked Crystal, who was sitting in the corner of the room in an armchair, legs crossed and staring at me. I knew she was still examining my bond trying to work out a way to fix it. She had mentioned to me she perhaps had something on the cards but she wanted to examine my end of the bond closer to see if what she was proposing was viable.

'Whenever I fix your bond,' Crystal said.

'Can I see him before that?'

'Nope. You'll attack him again. High treason – that's very naughty,' Crystal mocked.

'I won't attack him again, see,' I gestured to the photos and she looked, noticing the sticky pieces of paper were gone. She frowned. 'I can at least look at him without attacking him, surely?' I asked.

'How did your body react?'

'I started shaking,'

'It's too risky.' Crystal said sadly. I knew she was on my side.

'Then tie me down. Make it so I cannot move, please,' I said, tearing up. I wanted nothing more than just to speak to Luke at the moment. It felt like a massive part of me had been removed and I wanted to at least know what it felt like to have that back, even though my memories of him burning down the houses and so on were vivid. It didn't match him, though. I knew that. My memories from before and my memories from when I was kidnapped were two different people. Even now, Luke was sending flowers every morning and leaving cookies outside my door every evening.

'I can't make that decision on my own, there has to be a team of us to decide,' Crystal muttered.

'Am I actually that high maintenance,' I joked. She edged over.

'If you wasn't currently aware, Grace, you are currently carrying third in line to the Throne of the United Kingdom, and you are the other half of the second in line, I can understand them putting together a team of people to decide decisions around you,' She whispered to me and I nodded, understanding slightly even though it irritated me.

'Please try and persuade them though,' I muttered to her.

'I'll make it my personal mission,' She bowed mockingly and I rolled my eyes.

'How is it going?' I asked her.

'I'm getting there,' Crystal said confidently. 'We might be ready to move, if approved, tomorrow night. You're only on standard painkillers now, I don't know how but you are, and you're more rested than normal and if you can see Luke then it'll make it so much more easier as you have a post-kidnapping positive memory of him,'

I wasn't going to tell her the only thing making the pain of my leg easier was the physical and mental pain of potentially losing Luke.

'Can't you say that to the group of people to decide my actions? I doubt Luke will deny,' I said softly. From what I could tell from Luke's letters, he was staying in the room behind my room, so his bedroom backed onto mine. He told me he could hear my screams of my nightmares.

'I can try, but,' Crystal said and I nodded.

'Please try,' I said and Crystal kissed my forehead.

'Of course, cousin mine. I aint gunna jeopardize my chances to be bridesmaid at a Princess-to-be wedding, or Godparent to the potential King or Queen of my own country, am I?' Crystal joked. 'Try and sleep, I'll wake you up the second I hear anything,' She said, smiling sadly at me before leaving the room. I heard her close the other door to the apartment and heard the key in the lock I was familiar with now.

I sighed, getting up not tired and walked from my bedroom back into my apartment, the whole place feeling alien without Luke hanging around. I wasn't too sure what I could remember now and what I couldn't, but I knew Luke wouldn't hurt me. He was too sweet for that. Who spends five hours decorating someone's room in photos, who buys flowers each day, who makes the effort to go and buy my favourite cookies, and writes notes to me constantly, or brings me their clothes so I don't feel uncomfortable? No one would do that if they didn't care.

I put on Luke's burgundy jumper that was on the back of the chair, feeling like a hug. I was lost without him by my side, mocking me. That's how I knew he was innocent. I was dumb, granted, but my mind would block him out if he ever hurt me like it nearly did with the speeding incident.

The whole room has been decorated with things to make me feel better; my guitar from our old halls I completely forgot, photos, books upon books now filling the shelf, adult colouring books and piles of paper and some textbooks as my friends know I like to read up on random stuff.

There was the signature sound of the key in the lock and I turned around, really hoping it wasn't Caroline. She had visited me every day, sat down and told me all kinds of incredible stories and told me I was still welcome in her family as her daughter and even as I told her I didn't believe I was good enough, she told me to stop being stupid. The Queen of England currently was attending my bedside with facemask and hot chocolate and fresh cookies to tell me childhood stories of Luke and Theo, and entertaining stories of royal duties to cheer me up. But I didn't want to show any weakness and how much it was hurting me being away from her youngest son. I didn't want to appear too clingy, but I think she knew how much I was hurting, which is why she kept visiting me.

Thankfully, Jack slipped through the door and tucked the key in his pocket. He looked at me warily for a second, before coming over and giving me a bear hug spinning me around.

'How you doing?' He mumbled, hugging me tight and I started crying. 'Gracie,' He whispered. 'God, should have learnt by now not to ask you that,' He joked, guiding me to the sofa to sit down. 'Is it your leg?'

'I miss Luke,' I sobbed.

'Of course you do, that's normal,'

'It's not normal for me just to imagine all these images of him burning down your house, or, or murdering Mycelia and our cousins, Jack!' I sobbed to him and he hugged me to his side, but he cleared his throat and I knew there was a reason he was here.

'Grace, I need to speak to you for a second,' He said seriously and I wiped my tears away.

'Why? What's happened?' I asked, fear flooding my mind.

'Everything is fine,' He said quickly. 'You know we have Callus, the guy who kidnapped you, the guy who ran this anti-good Savant camp you were in for around three weeks, well, he's started to speak,' Jack said grimly. 'He was talking to Victor earlier after he, you know, persuaded him without words,' Jack mumbled and I nodded.

'What did he say?'

'Vick didn't say anything about you, or how you can remember Luke before the kidnapping as well as the incident you can remember. Callus said he removed your memories of Luke, all of them, and implanted his own as a safeguarding, so you're always on his side,'

'But I remember Luke before,' I said, frowning and Jack nodded with a grin on his face.

'Exactly. He tried to do this in a few seconds as you were already in and out of consciousness from your leg. It never set. Either your brain rejected it, or it doesn't work when someone is unconscious or something like that. It didn't set in your mind,' Jack said excitedly like a kid.

'What does that mean?'

'We know it's affected some of your bond, but it means it is a hell of a lot more easily to lift than we were all assuming. I know Crystal has worked out how to fix your bond or there about, but all we need is Uriel to go with her and take a look at your past, and Mark to go as well to clear your memory with Uri. You might not remember any of this ever happened, you'll believe you've woken up the next day after coming home drunk from mine, but you'll be with Luke again and you won't know any difference,' Jack said to me and my mouth dropped.

'Oh my god,' I mumbled.

'I know,' Jack said. 'Good on your little mind,'

'So it's – reversible?' I asked and he nodded.

'Crystal, Markie and Uriel are working on the details ASAP to try and help you. I've been sent to keep you company,' Jack said, gesturing to the pile of DVDs on the side.

 **Luke's POV**

No one knows I have a spare key to Grace's bedroom. When she was asleep, and I could no longer read her mind, I used to sneak in, sit beside her in her bed and gently talk to her. I used to write her a letter and leave it on her pillow. Now, however, I could hear Grace walking around her small apartment and I was surprised enough to hear a guitar. I never knew she could play the guitar?

I had been banished from a meeting about her for obvious reasons after Grace and Jack had spoken, so whilst no one was guarding her door I unlocked it as quietly as I could, pushing it open. I could see Grace sitting in a plush chair in the corner of her room, looking out the window playing some tunes on her guitar. I took in a deep breath, not realising she was in the main area and not her bedroom.

A few seconds later, she started playing a song I recognised, Mumford & Son's "I Will Wait" and I almost smiled at the irony. I was more amazed she could play the guitar so well. After the intro, I wondered if she would keep playing but she stopped for a second before starting again. And then she started singing.

 _Well I came home,_

 _Like a stone,_

 _And I fell heavy into your arms,_

 _These days of dust,_

 _Which we've known,_

 _Will blow away with this new sun,_

She had the perfect singing voice – sweet and innocent but slightly husky at the same time. I couldn't help but grin in the doorway, the pride must be radiating off me.

 _But I'll kneel down,_

 _Wait for now,_

 _And I'll kneel down_

 _Know my ground._

 _And I will wait, I will wait for you._

 _And I will wait, I will wait for you._

I teared up. She was absolutely magical. There was something about her that was just captivating to watch and it was that quality that made me fall in love with her so quickly. Everything she did, she just seemed to master and there was a way she held herself that was just... unique. I thought this could have ruined both of us, but I realised that when it was all fixed, it would make us stronger than ever.

 _So break my step,_

 _And relent,_

 _You forgave and I won't forget,_

 _Know what we've seen,_

 _And him the less,_

 _Now in some way,_

 _Shake the excess,_

 _Cause I will wait, I will wait for you._

 _And I will wait, I will wait for you._

She repeated the chorus and I knew that every moment I had free after this; I would be sitting down with Grace getting her to teach me the guitar. I knew that, when our child was eventually born and they were a toddler, she would sit on the edge of the bed, sitting on her foot, singing a song to them to get them to sleep and I smiled proudly. That's my girl. I gently edged out the room, just hearing her sing the next bit in her perfect, soothing tone.

 _Now I'll be bold,_

 _As well as strong,_

 _And use my head alongside my heart,_

 _So take my flesh,_

 _And fix my eyes,_

 _A tethered mind free from the lies..._

The door slammed behind me and I turned around as the music stopped. Theo stood behind me, looking annoyed.

'What the hell were you doing? How did you get in?' He angrily whispered.

'Door was unlocked, I went in to leave her a note, but I didn't realise she was awake. I also didn't realise she could play the guitar or sing,' I said.

'She didn't see you, did she?'

'No, she had no idea I was there until you slammed the door,' I whisper-shouted back at him.

'Okay, that's good,' Theo said.

'Why?'

'Because you're going to go in and see her,'

An hour and a bit later, I was waiting nervously outside her door and everyone was setting the camera's they set up to keep an eye on her. I watched her as Crystal was explaining something to her as she continued to strap her up, her legs tied down, padding over the skin grafts on the right leg, with restraints around her lower abdomen and then waist so if she did lash out it wouldn't hurt the baby, and then on her wrists, elbow and another restraint across her chest. I saw Crystal tell her to give a little jiggle and she did, and she could barely move. She was completely willing to do this. She requested to see me. I bit the corner of my thumb as Crystal set up the head restraints – commonly used for spinal injuries as they taped her head down so she could no longer even move her head.

'That's extreme,' I sighed.

'Only way I could get your father to agree,' Xav said to me.

'Why does that not surprise me,' I mumbled.

'He does seem like a dick to Grace,'

'Very much so,' I sighed.

'She deserves better than that,' Xav mumbled and I met his eye. Was that a dig? I realised he was on my side – she doesn't deserve someone to be that much of a cock around her.

'That's why I'm moving out with her the second she's fine.' I said. I have had time to think, and the second she was fine I was out of here with her, moving someone else. I had spoken to Mum briefly about it and she agreed that we would need space after this to recoup, and had agreed to let us go to somewhere else – potentially Windsor.

'Fair enough,' Xav said, nodding. 'But what about when the baby arrives?' He said quietly and I shrugged.

'Don't know, haven't even had the chance to speak to her about it yet,'

'Really?'

'We only found out a few minutes before she was kidnapped,' I said. 'We've spoken about it more than I have to her,'

'Oh,' He said and after that, Xav was silent. I continued to watch Crystal explain something to Grace as she watched. She looked so weak.

'If she starts attacking you, raise your arm and we'll send people in to get you out, guards will be on the other side of the door,' Trace said to me, coming up behind me.

'Well she can't move so I'd like to see how she'd attack me,' I mumbled and he sighed.

'I know, it's stupid,' He sighed. It was clear they all very much liked their cousin which is more than I can say about my cousins. I continued watching her, everyone around me ignoring me as they continued to speak to each other. I watched the camera anxiously, like I had been for the last few days,making sure she was okay. She wasn't – I watched her cry herself to sleep most nights. I would do anything to get her back.

About five minutes later I watched Crystal leave the room and I held my breath. A few second passed and she came out the door of her apartment. She looked at me in the eye.

'She's ready,' Crystal said with a small smile. I guess everyone thought someone would have backed out by now. I smiled at her, bowing my head slightly before moving into the room. There were eight security guards in her room, all armed with tasers with four by the door and four a bit further back. I gave all of them a dirty look – they are not using tasers on her.

'You're not using tasers on her,' I repeated my thought, finding the guy in charge by the door, his hand hovering by his weapon.

'Your Royal Highness,' He said bowing. 'We're under orders by...'

'I don't care who you're under orders from, I am the God damn Prince, I am in charge of this operation with my other colleagues, you do not use your god damn taser, and you understand me?' I shouted at him. He looked at me wearily.

'Inside that room is a member of the secret service and soon a member of the Royal family, she will get you fired, and so will i, the second you bring that weapon out of its holster. You do not attack her. You get it now?' I asked him, going into his face. He looked concerned. 'You're under my authority now,' I told him and he bowed.

'Yes, Your Royal Highness,' He said.

'That goes for all of you, use your weapons and I will personally escort you to a country where capital punishment is legal,' I warned him and he bowed.

'Yes, your Royal Highness,' all the security guards said in sync before I nodded, opening the door.

Grace was in the bed, the room hadn't changed at all since I decorated it apart from the armchair was now by her bedside. She was tied down to one half of the bed, the double bed we had shared for weeks before was actually comprised out of two single mattresses with a double mattress protector on. She giggled slightly.

'That was brutal,' Grace told me and I smiled, full of relief. 'Thank you,' She said.

'Anything for you,' I muttered to her.

'First time I've heard you call yourself a Prince, interesting,' She said and I made my way over to her, amazed that she was having no reaction to talking to me. I checked the camera and made sure it was still recording to move over to her.

'Yeah, well, I would do anything to protect you,' I said to her softly and she smiled.

'Luke, I'm sorry for what I've put you through.' She said, finally catching sight of me. She looked awful; like she had been crying for hours and hasn't spelt in the last week but her eyes were glowing and pooling up. I noticed her body starting to shake. Not massively, but it was like she was cold. I sat on the other side of the double bed before I gently touched her upper arm.

'This isn't your fault, sweetheart,' I said to her gently, 'None of this is,'

'Mm,' She said softly and I leaned forward, kissing her. I wasn't too sure what came over me, but there was a moment of hesitation from Grace before she kissed back. It only lasted a few seconds before I pulled away. There was a massive smile on her face.

'It isn't your fault, we'll get this sorted, I won't let this tear us apart,' I told her watching her shake. 'Are you cold?'

'A bit,' she owned up and I got up, finding a blanket on the side. I gently tucked it around her. 'Thank you,' She said awkwardly. 'Guessing we're being watched like hawks?'

'Yup,'

'Recorded sound?'

'No, actually, they trusted you enough to allow no recording,' I said and she nodded.

'How is the baby?' Grace asked me meeting my eye. I continued to play with her hair, knowing they would send in the guards if I took off the restraints but I wanted to comfort her.

'The last scan you had was the one in hospital, but everything looked okay, normal heartbeat, not twins, all okay,' I told her and she smiled.

'God, imagine twins,' She joked.

'I think we would barely manage one,' Luke said.

'... Do you want to keep it?' Grace said tentatively.

'At the end of the day, it's down to you,' I said, knowing there was nothing more I wanted to keep the baby, to have my own son or daughter.

'Mmm,' She said.

'What?'

'You know full well I want to keep it, you know that. I'm asking if you want to keep it, if you would help me and so on,'

I sighed and she looked over at me with worry in her eyes. 'Grace, you know full well I want you to keep it, you know I want our baby to be born and us to raise him or her together in our own place,' I said.

'That's that then.'

'What?'

'We're going to have this baby,' She said and I grinned at her, kissing her gently again.

'Boy or girl?' I asked her and she frowned.

'No idea,' She sounded confused.

'No, which one do you want?' I laughed at her. It was pretty awkward between us, both of us not mentioning the obvious.

'Oh! Er, I don't know. I don't think I mind. As long as they're healthy and I haven't messed them up with being kidnapped, being on medicines and drinking,' She said.

'You haven't messed them up,' I said softly. There was a silence as we both sat there for a while.

'I miss you,' She said, bursting into tears. 'We will sort this out, right?' She said, staring at me with puppy dog eyes as she started to shake more than ever, the panic evident.

'Yeah,' I reassured to her but I wasn't too sure if she will ever be able to overcome her experience. I knew full well that she was fragile from the second I met her. I knew she was still broken from her parents death and she was still getting herself together after this. But now, after this, I wasn't too sure if it was one step too far.


	25. Chapter 25

**Twenty Five**

Luke left reluctantly after about half an hour, when my shaking became too much and my temperature had plummeted and the machines were going off left, right and centre. He promised he will try everything to get us back together. I waited to hear the sound of the security guards leaving, and the sound of the key in the lock, before using my rudimentary telekinesis to undo the harnesses that were on me. No one had thought I would do that – mainly because my telekinesis skills were crap. I could just about move a cup of tea from the table to my hand. No one would have expected me to be able to take off reinforced restraints.

I finally undid the last one, sighing dramatically and kicking my legs of the bed before wrapping a blanket around my shoulders. Vick came in, opening the door and closing it without making eye contact before realising I was sitting up.

'How the bloody hell did you get the restraints off,'

'My mind, Vick, how else would I have done it?' I sighed, bringing my knees to my chest. He looked at me warily, his normal iron-like composure cracking under seeing me so stressed and devastated. He could deal with people he didn't know in times of crisis, but the second his own family was at risk he started to break. He was human after all.

'King Edward wouldn't be happy if he knew you could have done that all along,' He sighed.

'He's not happy with my existence full stop,'

'You've woken up on the pessimistic side, haven't you?' He sighed.

'Right, so, I've been abducted for three weeks, in hospital for nearly one and been locked in my own room for nearly one, I want to attack my Soulfinder, everyone is treating me like a prisoner and yes, that includes you and the King of England would prefer if I was not alive in his personal space,' I listed. 'I'm not entirely sure what you think there is to be cheerful about,' I mumbled.

'We think we're ready to wipe your mind tonight,' Vick said and I gasped.

'What?'

'Well, not wipe your mind. Kinda is. We're going to repair your bond at the same time as Uriel lifts the false images and Marcus wipes your mind, so you won't remember anything that's happened since your dinner at Jack's a few weeks back. You'll be extremely confused, so we want you to write a letter to yourself explaining everything you've seen over the last four and a bit weeks, no one will read it apart from you,' Victor explained to me.

'You think it's that easy?'

'The memories never stuck to your mind, it's like peeling off a face mask, once it starts to lift you can get the whole lot off in one go. In a way, it's already lifting because you've been talking to Luke fine, your brain understands he's no threat, it is your body having that effect,' Victor explained to me sitting on the edge of my bed.

'Do it,' I whispered and he smiled at me.

'We're doing it tonight so you'll fall straight asleep after, we can't change the timings off it,' He told me softly but pulled out a blue a5 notebook from his pocket, a pen attached to the spiral bounding. 'It needs to be decent enough for yourself to believe it. You have a few hours to write it,' He said before hugging me awkwardly. 'You're nearly there now, keep holding on,'

He got up, leaving the room and I looked at the book in front of me before the clock on the wall; it was half five now and curfew within the Palace wasn't until eleven, and that was when they would try it. Six hours seemed years away, but I had felt like half of my soul was missing for the last few weeks – what more damage could six hours do?

I opened up the notepad, spinning the pen around in my hand trying to think o the best way to word it before realising that was stupid. I had to be myself, fumbling with words. I knew what I was like and the levels of detail I would have to go into for myself to even fathom what happened. I put the pen to the paper, inhaling sharply before letting my brain write freely.

By the time I was finished, I may as well have written a dissertation on the past month I had. A few times, I found myself crying. I realise how webbed my mind had become, with myself remembering some odd memories like learning how to box and lying on the floor in a gym covered in sweat in weird grey tight clothing but none of which had context. I left the notepad to one side, as everyone had promised not to read it and watched the clock.

They had mentioned waiting until curfew to try and fix me, and now it was around half an hour from the curfew and I sighed. I could hear people moving around outside where I knew there was a constant guard waiting for me if I was to escape and from the three cameras I could see around the room, there must be some form of observation bay. I was confused why they weren't using the room behind my small apartment and were just waiting out in the hallway for me.

Fed up waiting, I lay down and closed my eyes, not sleeping but not quite conscious. I knew how desperately I wanted Luke. I missed spending all day and all night together. I would do anything to get that back.

Anything.

I resurfaced to someone gently shaking my shoulder. I jumped back.

'Hey, Grace, it's us, don't panic, it's just us,' Markie said to me and I frowned. He was sitting on the edge of my bed, frowning at me and I tried my slow down my beating heart. 'It's alright,' He muttered softly. I nodded, showing him I was fine. Crystal came into the room with a bottle of water and chucked it to me and I caught it on reflex. Uriel followed, closing the door behind him.

'What time is it?' I asked. They flicked on a small lamp in the corner of the room.

'One in the morning, you were sound out, we had to leave it.' Crystal said.

'Shit, sorry,' I said, before looking back to Markie. 'You have work tomorrow?'

'Nope, it's almost like the Palace called my unit telling them I was slightly preoccupied at the moment,' He said with a slight smile.

'Oh,' I mumbled and he nodded. 'Take a drink, it contains a mild sedative so you won't get distressed if you relive anything and it'll help you sleep after. They believe you'll be asleep until just after midday.' Markie said as Crystal and Uriel kept talking in the corner. I looked at the unlabelled bottle of water for a moment.

'How much do I need to drink for it to be effective?'

'Over 400ml, Xav checked it after us to make sure it was suitable and won't affect you with your other meds or something,' Markie said shrugging. 'Could have got Jack to do it but, nope, your god damn brother was wandering around as usual,'

'You're engaged to him, he's your issue now,' I joke him and he shrugged.

'He was your brother first,' Markie told me as I opened the bottle, before downing the entire thing in one go. He raised his eyebrows. 'Ah, forget you're good at downing drinks, should have remembered that from the pub days, we need to go pubbing soon, I'm sure Luke's good with his drinks,'

I made a committal noise in the back of my throat amazed that somehow he didn't know about the pregnancy yet but I was not going to be the one to tell him. Or at least not yet. Twelve-week rule or something, right?

Crystal looked over at me.

'Ready to go ten, Grace?' She asked me and I nodded.

'What do you want me to do?'

'Sit up in the middle of the bed, and hold my hand, and Markies,' She said and I did what she said. Uriel filled the circle and nodded at me with a sad smile.

'Let's go,'

I could tell the three of them were communicating without me, bringing me to a black space, and there were about ten minutes where nothing happened.

'Okay, we're going to go now,' Crystal told me in my head and I nodded.

Once again nothing happened and I was getting on edge.

'Right, we've decided to do it all in one go. This will hurt like a bitch, but you'll be unconscious after and then you won't remember anything that has happened since you came to mine for dinner with Luke, that will be your last memory, do you understand and do you consent to that?' Markie said to me and I nodded.

'Yeah, of course,'

'Okay,' Crystal said. 'We're going to go in,' She said and I took a breath in.

There was a pain in my head, like a dull throb of a headache and I felt Crystal searching through my mind trying to find my bond. She found it, gesturing in a unique way to the others. There was a moment of silence before the pain from Hell hit me.

It felt like my head was split in half with a blunt spoon and my brain was in a blender. My mouth was full of copper pennies and I saw awful, awful things in my mind. I saw myself lying limp in a dark, damp hallway. I saw myself being forced into the wall, and creepy hands on my waist and some boy training me hard in the gym to the point of my light grey shirt was dark grey in sweat. I saw some creepy middle age man tell me how he would impregnate me and destroy the people I love. I then saw the same man change all my memories of my kidnapping to blame Luke for burning my leg and pouring metal onto it and then shooting me so I didn't move.

Then I blacked out.


	26. Chapter 26

**Twenty Six**

 **Luke's POV**

I paced up and down the corridor outside Grace's room after Crystal, Uriel and Markie went in. They had been in there for over twenty minutes and there had been no signs and I could not tell if that was a good sign or a bad sign.

'Mate, you look like you're an anxious father-to-be, waiting for your child to be born,' I heard Theo said sleepily, hitting me on my arm as he came up beside me. I jumped before giving him a dirty look. Theo swallowed, realising joking about children to be born was not the correct way to help me when scared shitless. 'Still no news?' He said seriously when he realised how scared I was.

'Nothing,' I mumbled.

'That's an alright sign? Means that it hasn't gone wrong,'

'Hasn't gone right, either,' I said. 'Surely they'd be out by now?'

'They'd have to wait for the sedative to kick in before doing anything,' Theo mentioned and I nodded.

'I just want her back; the trivial issues of Dad seem like a luxury now. I just want my Grace back,'

'And you will get her back,' Theo said.

But I wasn't too sure. There was complete silence as I stared at the wall, the monitoring screens having been taken down to allow privacy. '

You got your alarm?' Theo asked and I nodded. Allowing the screens to be taken down meant that I could have a bit of privacy with Grace, yeah, but it also meant that if it didn't work I would be in grave danger of her attacking me as I refused for her to wake up, potentially terrified, in restraints. So they gave me a keychain with a black remote attached to it, the remote with two buttons. One massive red one and a smaller green one – with the red to press for danger. If she woke up remembering nothing but seemed fine, I'd press the green and allow the psych reports to be done again on her, and I would have to explain the last month and a bit to her. And tell her she's pregnant for the second time. And explain to her that she was abducted from her hospital room, held hostage for three weeks before some sick bastard shot her and burnt her leg so bad that she couldn't move for days and even now she doesn't have full mobility. I would have to explain how many times she rejected me. And broke my ribs. Despite my ribs still hurting after Xav fixed them so they were just badly bruised, I found it hilarious but Grace would not see the same.

'Yeah,'

'It'll be fine,' Theo said before walking off.

Five minutes or perhaps even longer, Uriel emerged from the room and I looked at him and he nodded.

'It looks like it went fine, she passed out like we expected the second we started lifting the memories. We think we removed the layer about you and we think it went fine so she won't remember the kidnapping or what she thought of you.' He explained to me as Markie came out holding a bin full of bloody tissues and Crystal followed him, closing the door.

'What happened?' I asked, looking down at the bin.

'She had a nosebleed, quite bad, when she passed out. It's happened before and it's stopped now. She should be fine,' Crystal said and I nodded.

'We need to go if we're gonna be up tomorrow for the psych reports,' Uriel said, gesturing to him and Markie.

'Thanks,' I said, awkwardly standing there.

'Text us when you can, let us know how she is when she wakes up,' Uriel said yawning, before walking behind me gently slapping me on my upper arm in a way that everyone has been doing in the last two weeks, a brotherly gesture I would assume. Crystal stood in front of me, looking slightly awkward.

'Aren't you going to?' I asked her gently.

'She'll be fine, Luke, if this doesn't work, we'll find another way. She wants this as much as you do. She knows something massive is missing. She's working it out,' Crystal told me and I nodded. 'She won't be awake until early morning, probably around half ten,'

That was just over eight hours from now.

'Thanks Crystal, you just dropped everything and came over to help,'

'Everyone has a soft spot for Grace, we had to come and help her. It didn't matter at the end of the day who you are, although a bit of pre-warning from her would have been lovely,' Crystal joked and I smiled slightly, 'But we would have always helped her and we always will. She does the same for us in a heartbeat, of course we would help her. And you are included in that too now, you're family too.' Crystal said. 'And your baby.' She added as an afterthought. I hugged and she laughed slightly, hugging back.

'She'll be okay in the end,' She told me.

'God, I hope so,' I mumbled and she pulled back.

'Now get your perky ass in there and stay by her side,' Crystal ordered and I saluted her.

'Yes, ma'am,' I said and she laughed gently, sauntering off down the corridor.

'Oh, and Luke?' She said, walking away, not turning back. 'Look after my cousin, she's not as strong as she pretends to be,' and with that she disappeared around the corner. I knew that now. I thought Grace was strong, willing to fight. But I knew that she was still broken and struggling with day to day life after losing her parents in that crash. I wanted to be there for her, to teach her again how to trust and how to be happy again.

I walked into her apartment, security gone now and apart from the odd item here and a book stack over there, it looked like normal. Her guitar was moved onto the armchair and I snuck into her bedroom.

She looked so small and frail. She was lying in the middle of the bed with a blanket over her where the three of them must have too scared to move her. She had the small remains of blood down her face and I sighed, walking over her. Slowly and incredibly gently, I moved the blanket off her, leaving it on the floor for a second before scooping her up.

She had lost a lot of weight, I could tell that, and it was concerning as she was eating for two and as our baby put on weight, Grace's cumulative weight dropped. I knew I would have to start feeding Grace in order for her to remain healthy. But as I picked her up, Grace smiled gently and almost snuggled against her.

I couldn't do it – I finally broke and started to cry with her in my arms. I gently sat on the edge of the bed, holding her. The fears and worries of the last month was too much and so many times I had nearly given up, not with her, but with everything. I couldn't cope with it. And the one person who would have spoken to me about it, calmed me down, was the one in the issue. But with even the smallest sign she was okay with her smiling in the sleep – I could only assume sleep – it was enough to get me hopeful.

Telekinetically, I pushed the duvet back on her side of the bed, tucking her in. I gently kissed her forehead.

'We'll work this out, Grace; I love you too much to let you go.' I told her but she didn't respond. 'I'll be waiting for you,' I mumbled, kissing her cheek before walking to the other side of the bed where the chair remained and sat down, fully preparing for tonight to be a long night of anxiously watching Grace hoping and praying she'll still be fine.

 **Grace's POV**

I was absolutely freezing – I pulled the duvet close to my chest trying to get warm and I sighed. I knew this is exactly what happens after I drink, I get freezing. My friends always took the piss out of me as every time we went clubbing, I used to bring a coat even in summer. It's an odd effect of alcohol on me. That and a killer headache.

At least I wasn't doing much the rest of today and I planned just to stay in bed, where it was warm.

Although I realised Luke wasn't in bed with me and I frowned. He was home with me, he carried me upstairs. I remembered that much – but I can't remember what happened from the moment we left the car park so I could only assume I blacked out. However, it was still night. I could only think it was really early in the morning, around three or four. Perhaps Luke was also hung over? But he didn't drink as he drove us home – so that was unlikely.

He would be talking to his Dad, then, arguing about me.

I opened my eyes, squinting against the massive headache I got – so yeah I did drink more than I thought. I knew it was mainly wine and realised how stupid I was. Wine hangovers are the worst. But Luke was sitting on a chair beside my bed, reading a book. I took a moment to look around the room. There was only the light of the lamp on the bedside table, next to a decanter of water and a glass which Luke or Theo must have brought in. However, the room was decorated in hundreds of photos and I looked around what I could see of the right side of the room amazed.

When did we get that toy elephant?

But I looked back at Luke and he looked awful. He looked skinnier and tired and sad. Really tired and sad. He had massive bags under his eyes and just looked like he hadn't smiled in months. Which was odd, because he was fine a few hours ago at Jack's. Did I piss him off? Did I do something to really upset him, which is why he wasn't asleep with me, holding me like normal? I don't believe I would have done such a thing to really hurt Luke but there was a reason for him looking sad. He didn't know I was awake at the moment, though, as he continued to read his book but it was there – a haunting of his eyes that wasn't there when we were in the car heading back to London.

But... then how was he pissed off at me and still had time to completely redecorate my room with Polaroid photos of me as a toddler through to recent photos of both of us. Where did he get those photos from? When did he even have time to go and get them professionally printed? When did he have time to go and buy a stuffed elephant?

'Luke?' I croaked and immediately cleared my own voice. It was coarse and hurt like a bitch. Perhaps I had thrown up again? I made a mental note to go home at some point this week after Wednesday and go to the doctors without Luke knowing as I didn't like how long this illness was going on for - but at the same time I didn't want to worry Luke.

Luke looked up at me for a moment, then his mouth dropped and he put his book down. He looked like I had offered him a chance to become a unicorn or an astronaut. Actually, no, that look was the one he would give me if I told him he was a unicorn astronaut. He continued to stare at me for a few seconds, blinking before rubbing his eyes. Was he... alright?

'Are you... alright?' I asked tentatively.

'Oh my god, Grace,' He said, gently sitting on the bed and playing with my hair. I smiled gently. 'How are you feeling?'

'A bit shit – how much did I have to drink?' I asked him and he frowned.

'Drink?'

'Yeah?' I asked and he looked a bit confused.

'Er, dunno,' He then replied like he remembered something.

'Why are you acting so weird?' I asked him again and he looked at me.

'What do you mean?'

'Well firstly you decorated the room in...' I looked at the clock, 'Three hours which is just incredible as how on Earth did you ever have time to do that, including that stuffed elephant,' I gestured to the toy that was really bugging me. It felt like it had a significance to it but I had never seen it before. Odd. 'And now you're acting off and you were sitting on that chair and not in the bed. What have I done to annoy you,' I whispered the latter and he looked at me before lying down next to me. He rolled onto his side and looked at me straight in the eye.

'You haven't done anything, sweetheart, it's just –' He broke eye contact to look away like deciding how to say something. But he didn't say anything, but met my gaze again. He smiled, his finger running down my cheek. 'I love you so much, Grace,' He said so softly like he would never see me again.

'I love you too,' I replied back, confused as to what had got into him.

He suddenly leaned forward, kissing me off guard but there was a burning passion behind his kiss, the way his hands gently caressed me, like I was completely his and surrounded in his love. About fifteen minutes later, with him leaning awkwardly above me still kissing, I pulled away. One hand was holding his body weight; the other was resting on my abdomen.

'You're acting really weird,' I told him.

'Er, well, I have an excuse,' He joked.

'Let me guess, you came home and had a drink to catch up with me,' I said and he smiled at me, like anything I said was hilarious. Or like I was his everything.

'I'll explain in the morning,' He said.

'But that's so far away!'

'Yeah, I don't want to leave you either, but you're far too tired and have had a long day,' He said softly. 'You might want to have a drink and take some painkillers though,'

I nodded, hoisting myself up before flinching. There was a massive pain in my leg, like all around my leg. A burning, stinging, awful pain. I teared up and Luke was right by my side, helping me up. Like he knew what was to be expected.

'Did I hurt my leg?' I asked.

'Er, yeah,' He said briefly, offering me four tablets, two were clearly ibuprofen but the other two I had no idea what they were. But Luke handed them to me none the less and poured me a glass of water. He watched me as I took all four tablets then went to examine my leg but his hand stopped me.

'Let's go bed, don't worry about it now,' Luke said softly, helping me lay back down again. He looked on edge.

'You gonna come and join me or just stand there like a weirdo?' I said tentatively and he grinned.

'You want me to share a bed with you?'

'You have since we met,' I pointed out and Luke smiled, climbing in. Before he laid down, he pulled something out from his jogging bottoms pockets –a small black device. I saw him press a small green button on the remote before putting it on the cabinet. As I watched, he grabbed his phone and sent a group message to someone – a message about four lines long – and sent it before lying down with me.

'Was that to Jack and Markie?' I asked and he nodded.

'Yeah, sort of,' He said before looking back over at me. He gently started playing with my hair. 'I never told you how much I love you, and how much you mean to me and...'

'Ew, stop that, you make it sound like I'm dying or something. Now lay down and let me hug you,' I said before frowning. 'But I do love you too, and I mean it, but you know how much I love you,' I added quickly as Luke laid down next to me, his arm looping around my shoulder to hold me to his chest, as his other hand rested on my hip as I curled up onto his chest, my head on his shoulder where I belong. I sighed contently, kissing his chest as he held me.

'I really do love you, even though you're being weird,' I mumbled to him, already half asleep as I pulled the duvet closer. He kissed the crown of my head.

'I love you too, but I'll explain everything tomorrow,' He mumbled back, his hand dropping to my abdomen slightly but before I could complain about him touching my stomach, I was already falling asleep.

I woke up late in the morning the next day with Luke still beside me, holding me like he never wanted to let go of me. We were laying in a way that he didn't know I was up, but one had held me around my shoulder, his fingers tracing patterns on my upper hand and his other arm was across his stomach and on my hip, his finger running up and down the curve of my hip. He continued to do it for a few minutes before I cleared my throat.

'You up, poppet?' He asked me gently before kissing my forehead again.

'Yeah,' I replied softly, stretching slightly before Luke grabbed me again, hoisting on onto his chest, my legs in the middle of his. However, my right leg still hurt – badly. Did I sprain it? Did I pull a muscle in it?

'God, I love you, Grace,' He mumbled to me.

'Okay, Luke, you're being really weird. What's happening?' I asked softly, not liking how he was sounding. Even this morning he sounded odd, like something massive had happened. I could only assume it was his Dad. Perhaps he got me the sack? Or perhaps he's kicking us out? I started to panic. The former I could deal with, but the latter would devastate Luke.

'Er, Grace, I have something to tell you,' He sighed sadly, tearing up.


	27. Chapter 27

**Twenty Seven**

'What does this mean? How?' I mumbled to Luke as he held me on his lap.

When I was slightly more awake, he helped me into the lounge when I realised how bad my leg was. He had to carry me most of the way as I stopped to sob. Luke said it was expected as I had been off pain medicine for nearly a day, but I still wasn't sure what for. I was in loose fit jogging bottoms and he wasn't letting me roll them up to see if there was any damage. Instead, he sat me down with himself beside and started to explain things slowly.

He told me that yesterday we hadn't gone to Jack's. I laughed, thinking he was delusional but he looked at me with fear, stone cold fear, in his eyes and I realised he was being serious. So I frowned, promised to shut up and let him carry on. It thought it was midway through October, six weeks after I had met Luke. Now, it was second to last week of November. I had been abducted for three weeks and spent two weeks in medical care leading to this moment. By this point I was struggling to believe what he was saying, but he let me see my phone which was full of messages, then turn on the news where it said the date. I even Googled it and it showed me it was mid-to-late November. How could I not remember five weeks?!

Then he got serious. He held my hand, twisted himself to look at me. He told me how we had come back from Jack's, and I fell asleep, and then woke up and threw up like I had been doing for a week and a bit before all of this happened, but I passed out and hit my head on the sink, cracking it open. So he drove me to hospital where they stitched it up and I was happily asleep. When I woke up, I was only awake for a few minutes before Luke went to grab a nurse and I fell asleep again. And by the time Luke came back with the nurse, I was gone.

They had CCTV of someone coming into my room, injecting me with something as I tried to fight them off but I was unconscious in moments and they fire-lifted me out of the hospital bed and moved me quickly out of the hospital itself, threw me like a bag of potatoes into the back of a white van and drove off. That was all they had seen of me leaving. Luke showed me the CCTV and I played it back and forth, amazed. I couldn't remember it. It didn't feel like me. It was like it was someone else, and I was watching it on the news.

He explained to me over the three weeks I was gone, we only had one telepathic conversation which lasted less than a minute. Apparently, I explained to him where I was. A man called Callus had me hostage, and he wanted to destroy the Savant Net so bad Savants could rule, but not only that he wanted to ruin the Royal family as well. Callus wanted me to be pregnant with his child, then return, reject Luke, marry Theo, before he would kill them off and cause our baby to become heir to the throne, before he would come forward as my partner and kill me off, meaning the Throne would be his. It doesn't work like that, but he still believed it.

Luke found me eventually, with my entire family and some willing volunteers from the police and MI5. But when he did, I was unconscious in this room, with a cast metal mould on my leg chaining me to the wall and a bullet wound on the same leg but on my upper thigh. Callus had melted metal onto my leg as a punishment for something. Yves melted the links off to get me out, and when I came around on the plane I was shit scared of Luke.

I looked up at him by this point and I noticed tears in his eyes. He continued to explain to me with tears in his eyes how when I woke up post-op after removing the bullet and grafting the skin how I rejected him, kicking at him and telling him I was a murderer. He had to stop for a moment as I wiped away his tears. He held me close. I knew how much I hurt him. I hugged him back tightly.

They got my family in the next time I woke up and I explained how I saw Luke tie up me somewhere, before leaving me starving. He showed me how he killed Mycelia. He showed me videos of him burning down Jack and Markie's house. He showed me videos of him in Colorado, burning down the Benedict's family house, killing off parts of my own family.

It took another week for me to start to fight against the thoughts, and yesterday I told everyone I was seeing Luke, even though I had to be restrained down to the bed to stop attacking him. We had a genuine conversation but I was shaking so much my temperature dropped and he had to leave. But I was off pain medicine, and Crystal, Uriel and Markie had fixed my bond, went into the past and lifted my memories with their respective gifts. So I didn't remember anything.

'Sorry, I know they made you write a letter to yourself but I don't know where they put it,' Luke whispered, holding me tight.

'I put you through so much pain,' I mumbled.

'You didn't, the situation did.' He explained to me but I wasn't feeling it.

'What does this mean, though, will I be constantly restraint? Will I never remember what happened?' I asked him and he looked down at me.

'No, you'll get the all clear after psych evaluations but I'm sure you know more about them than me.' He said softly, touching my cheek. 'You might remember what happened eventually, but it's unlikely.' He said and I snuggled against his chest. He hugged me tightly.

'I'm so sorry, though,' I mumbled again.

'Stop apologising, you didn't do anything. It wasn't you acting like that,' He mumbled back, curling up into me.

There was a moment of silence between us as he held me tight. I could tell he was debating about saying something but I didn't want to push it. He was clearly struggling to tell me the basics of what he endured the month and a bit I was gone. I had broken him single-handedly, and he was still struggling to understand that I was back. That much was clear by how he held me. Not that I minded.

'There's one more thing, Grace,' He said to me quietly and I looked over at him.

'What?' I said.

But he looked scared, looking all over the room rather at me.

'What could you possibly say that is worse than what you've already told me?' I asked him and he took a deep breath in.

'I think you should take a pregnancy test,' He said softly and my face dropped and he rested his forehead against me.

'What?' I whispered, unsure if I was shocked or what.

'I think you should take a pregnancy test,' He repeated and I looked back.

'Oh no,' I mumbled. 'This is a clearly you already know and you don't want to tell me,' I said and he just continued to look at me. I can't be. 'I can't be, though, I'm on the pill. We were careful. We were very careful,' I told him and he nodded.

'Come on, poppet,' He said, picking me up and carrying me to the bathroom but I started to kick out. The panic was evident on his face and I stopped, not wanting him to worry.

'You are not watching me pee on a stick, good Sir,' I said and Luke smiled, kissing my forehead.

'I'll wait out here, then,' He said, putting me down on the floor. 'You know that I love you and whatever the outcome is, I'll support you either way.' Luke said to me softly, his eyes a beautiful light blue that just showed his emotions straight up and I knew he was telling the truth. I gently kissed him.

'I know you will, and I also know you already know the outcome, but doesn't stop me from being scared, though,' I replied back before walking into the bathroom, locking the door behind me before leaning against it.

It was a lot to take in. I thought it was another day to find out I was kidnapped, held against my will, a creepy man potentially tried to knock me up. I widened my eyes. Oh my God – what if he succeeded and that was why Luke is making me try the test.

Panicking, I walked over to the cabinet where I knew there was two left behind my makeup. Not that I hid it, but it wasn't the best thing to have on display. I committed, awkwardly peeing on the stick before putting the test on the side. I realised I could have a proper look at my leg whilst hidden away, and pulled down my joggers a bit more and tried not to cry.

The top of my leg was red and inflamed – there was a zig-zag scar about seven centimetres long which distorted the skin and was bruised beyond belief. I ran my fingers over it and flinched. I then poked it and yelped. But Luke didn't hear me. I tried to tally it to what Luke had told me – that must be the gunshot wound then. I braced myself before looking at my calf and when I saw it, I tried not to cry even more than before.

It had calmed down a lot and I could tell Xav had focused on the lower leg from the burns rather than the upper leg, and it looked like burns post a few months rather than a few weeks. But there were more zig-zag scars of skin grafts and patches of soothed scar tissues from the burns. It was hideous. I had to take deep breaths and I knew I would cry the second I touched it. My leg was hideous. I covered my mouth as I pulled up my joggers. I was horrified with my own leg. I would never let anyone see that.

'Grace?' Luke called sweetly. 'It's been well over two minutes.'

'How long has it been?' I croaked.

'Er, about seven, perhaps ten? Everything okay?' He asked as I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

I got up, flushing the toilet and opening the door. I met Luke's gaze as I did and he looked down at me sad, tearing up.

'How'd it go?' He mumbled, holding a paper bag.

'I haven't checked,' I replied and he frowned. 'My leg is hideous, Luke,' I mumbled. He looked at me.

'No it's not,' He replied sounding shocked and I laughed hollowly.

'Look at it,' I said, dropping my joggers again, kicking them off despite the shooting pain and even he flinched when he saw my leg. 'See, look, it's horrible and you've seen it before,' I sulked trying to walk away, but Luke put the bag down on the toilet seat cover and hugged me tightly.

'I haven't seen it before, I had no idea how bad it was but it's not hideous. I flinched because I know how painful gunshot wounds are, Grace, and for how long I was on painkillers for. You're near enough off them. That's why I flinched because I know how much pain you're going through,' He whispered sweetly to me, hugging me tight. 'I've spoken to Xav, he said he's gonna stay over here for another month and a bit as he has a temp job in Saint Mary's I got him, but he thinks after a few weeks it won't be as red and will look like a five year old scar. It will always be there, but it will be barely visible. If you hate it that much, I'll take you to get plastic surgery on it. But honestly, your scars make you who you are. We can have matching leg scars,' He said, kissing me softly and I nodded.

'Okay,' I whispered back.

'You ready for the test results?' He said with a small grin. He went to go and grab the test.

'Wait, no, nope no.' I said and he stopped before frowning at me. 'You said... Callus wanted too,' I gestured and Luke widened his eyes.

'No, it wouldn't be his.' Luke said and I nodded but wasn't entirely sure. Luke grabbed the test from the side, checking it himself with a small grin on his face before handing it over to me, the result side facing down. I took it with shaking hands and held in that way for a moment. I already knew the results before I looked but I didn't want to look. Eventually, I got the courage and turned it around.

Two pink lines.

Pregnant.

Luke moved forward and kissed me, the kiss burning with passion as his hands wrapped around my waist. I dropped the test on the floor and wrapped my arms around his neck. A few minutes later we broke apart, his forehead against mine.

'We're going to be parents,' He whispered to me gently and I smiled.

'How far along am I?'

'Somewhere between ten and eleven weeks, you originally found out before you were taken,'

I took a step back.

'Excuse me? So far?' Ii had already found out before?

'Er, yeah, they think it happened in the first week we met, probably the ball. Or the first night we spent together... or the morning of the...'

'Okay, got it,' I said, laughing. Luke smiled. 'Have they done a scan yet? Is everything okay?' I asked and he nodded.

'They haven't done a scan with both of us there yet, but they've done two. One with me there before you were taken and one with you there when you were in the hospital. Everything looked okay,'

'When can we have a scan with us two together?' I asked and he frowned.

'Well, depends how much of an adventure you're feeling,' He joked.

As it turned out, Luke wasn't joking as much as I thought he was. He text everyone saying I was awake and functioning, but wanted to put off the psych evaluations until evening as I wanted some time to take in what had happened. Not an entire lie, but still a lie. Luke ran me a bath, and sat beside me as I nearly fell asleep several times. He then washed my hair for me, and cleaned and dressed my leg injuries. Not only that, he made me lunch of his famous fried chicken and chips and I wolfed it down before he gave me painkillers – ibuprofen and codeine – and we waited for about half an hour until the medicines kicked in.

'I have a present for you,' Luke said as we waited on the sofa. I looked up at him and frowned. I was leaning against his chest, his arm around me as he sat normally and I slouched against him, my legs out on the sofa. He pulled out the brown paper bag he went to give me earlier when I took the pregnancy test.

I gently took it, frowning, before looking inside. The toy elephant was in the bag, along with three pairs of Converse baby crib shoes in various monochrome colours. I teared up and Luke hugged me.

'I did give these to you a few days back but you won't remember. I said I wanted the elephant to be our babies first toy, and the crib shoes the first shoes, as I know how much you love your Converse,' Luke said to me softly and I hugged the elephant, trying not to cry. 'Oh, please don't, I can't deal with you being upset no more,'

'It's perfect, Luke,' I mumbled through the tears.

'You're okay with them?'

'Yeah, thank you so much,' I said, hugging his arm tight as he kissed my forehead.

'Wanna go and see our baby?'

'Can't imagine a time when the answer to that would be no,' I said sitting up straight.

We were a good team – we snuck out of the room, snuck past security and into the workers lift down to the first floor and across to the small medical wing. According to Luke, this was where they dealt with the first aid and they had an ultrasound machine for years and the last time it was used was when one of his cousins was pregnant two years back and hadn't been used since, but it still did the job until I was well enough to go to a maternity ward. It took about fifteen minutes to sneak around with my awful leg, but eventually Luke flung open the door, and we both entered before he closed the door and turned the light on.

It was a very cute but crowded and cluttered room; a rectangular shape which was about ten feet wide but around forty foot long. When Luke said it hadn't been used in two years, it was clear it hadn't. Instead, it had been filled with spare chairs previously used in the main hall for events such as Luke's ball a few months, or weeks, I don't even know what time anymore. There were about seven stacks of chairs, a few tables, and boxes piled on top of each other. It filled up the majority of space, but there was still a medical bed on the far left of the room, just in front of the door, and a chair next to the bed. And something covered in a bed sheet.

'Well, this is cute,' I commented, out of breath from the pain of my leg. Luke looked at me concerned and deciding I couldn't walk, he picked up and carried me over, placing me on the bed.

'I'm going to get you some crutches to walk with,' Luke said softly, sitting on the chair in front of me. There was concern in his eyes.

'It's fine, I just haven't gone out much,' I told him and he didn't believe me – that was evident in his eyes. But he didn't argue with me anymore, probably knowing that the time we had was limited before someone realised we had gone for a wander, which I was not allowed to do. He just sighed, shaking his head slightly.

'Do you want to lay down, then?' He said and I did what he said. Luke checked the door which closed by itself after we had come in and then lifted my hand and kissed in. A few seconds later, he pulled off the bed sheet covering the ultrasound machine and it looked identical to the ones they used in films. A few minutes later, Luke had completely set it up and I frowned.

'How did you know to do that? Done it before?' I asked, raising my eyebrow and he laughed gently.

'You do it the first year,' He said and it took a moment for me to understand what he was on about and by that point, he thought I was not understanding what he was saying. 'Well, it's more of a portable version in case anything happens out in the field, and,' Luke ramble.

'How is that going?' I asked him.

'It's not on yet,' He said referring to the machine.

'No, your university course,' I laughed slightly and he smiled.

'I haven't had time to even think about it, and with all of this happening now, is it really worth it?' Luke asked and the machine was setting itself up, warming up and burning of the year and a bit worth of dust. I sighed, and he frowned.

'No, you're doing it, you're not letting me or any of this or our baby put off your dreams. You've already had enough of that.' I told him and he grinned, getting up to kiss me. He smiled at me.

'This is why I love you, Grace,' He said.

'You're going to go back to university as soon as you can,' I told him, 'I'm sure they'll let you enter in a few months late. You'll be doing your dissertation and you can do that at home and still do the practical side, I'm sure,'

'Well, I'm not meant to tell you this, Grace,' He said softly and I started panicking, widening my eyes and he held my hand. 'Nothing bad, but they want us to have our own space, time for us both to relax and bond together so they're going to move us to Windsor castle by ourselves and obviously security too and the cleaning maids and them lot, until we decide where we want to stay,' He said. 'If that's okay with you,'

'Windsor?' I asked and he nodded. 'Hell yeah, that's alright. That's right opposite Nando's,'

'I will personally go and buy you Nando's each day,' Luke joked.

'I'll hold you to that,'

'They're building several apartments in the countryside of Windsor, near the river, and when it's built they said we can move into together but we'll see how it goes, I don't want anything overly stressful when, you know,' he said, poking my tummy.0

'We'll see it how goes,'

Luke turned back to the machine that had flashing green lights, showing it was ready.

'You ready?' Luke said and I nodded, scared shitless. He lifted up my shirt for me, bunching it under my bust, before leaning down and finding the conductive jelly. 'This will be freezing,' He warned and I smiled, nodding before he squirted a decent sized blob on my stomach and I immediately sucked my stomach in.

'You're right,' I said and he laughed gently, holding my hand.

'You ready?' He asked me again, picking up the little handle of the machine and I nodded.

I was terrified but I trusted Luke more than any other person in the World to do the ultrasound for me, but I was more terrified by the potential that I hurt my son or daughter before I even knew they existed was killing me off. I'm sure that I hadn't been the best parent-to-be over the last six weeks since just before the kidnapping. I had been ill and barely eating to start with, then I stupidly got drunk at my brothers, then I ended up in hospital and was then kidnapped, had three weeks of grey matter where who knows what happened as even the boy they rescued the same time as they did me – his name was Alec or something – had his memory wiped so he had no idea what had happened either. However, they managed to track down his family who had reported him missing from the age of fourteen. _Fourteen._

But after Luke found me, I had operations and was high on god knows what concoction of medicines and then even now I don't think I've been eating properly and there hasn't been the correct amount of vitamins either. I remember opting for a unit of biological psychology and about the development of foetuses within the early weeks and how much they rely on the mother for everything. And I couldn't help but feel that I had already failed my child. I looked at Luke, thankful I remembered my shields, and more thankful he had no idea how much inner torment I was going through.

'Anything?' I asked after a few seconds.

'Had the machine on the wrong settings,' Luke said, 'Now I'm on the right one, just give me a second...' He mumbled, biting his lip anxiously as my heart rate went out the roof. 'Hang on, there we go,' He said sighing before grinning.

On the screen was a very clear image and I was proud of Luke for managing to find it. I found his hand and gripped it. The very clear image showed our baby perfectly. Inside of a white-and-grey mesh of small lines, there was a clear black oval, and inside the oval, resting on the bottom, you could clearly see our baby – the head with an already formed nose, the chin resting on the slightly round tummy and two small legs. I started crying, covering my mouth with my hand. Luke looked over at me with tears in his eyes too as we watched ultrasound image. After a minute or two, Luke flicked on the sound and we managed to find the heartbeat perfectly and it set me off again – crying.

'Everything to me looks healthy, we just need to book you in for an appointment next week or so for the prenatal tests they do,' Luke whispered to me, staring at the screen in awe. 'But everything looks –'

He was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and a very familiar, but unwelcome at the time, shaped-body filled the doorway.


	28. Chapter 28

**Twenty Eight**

He was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and a very familiar, but unwelcome at the time, shaped-body filled the doorway.

Both my brother and his fiancé stood in the doorway. I could see the emotions run clearly across Jack's face as the situation at hand sunk in. He looked at me with mild confusion, wondering how I was "taking it all in" when I was now in the medical room, and then worry as he realised I was in the medical room with Luke beside me, looking like he was worried. Which, of course, he was. My brother and Markie, both of whom came well acquaintance with Luke over the last five or so weeks. And now, both of them have walked into the medical room which they thought has been empty for a year or so to see me on the medical bed with Luke sitting by my side. It looked like I had become very ill, as from the angle they were looking, the machine was hidden.

However, as Jack stood there he noticed that my top was lifted up, and we had frozen in place, the weird little probe on the machine that touches the conductive jelly and sends and receives the waves in order to produce the image. He frowned at it, before walking in and checking the screen, seeing the ultrasound image – and the heartbeat.

'Oh, Hi Jack, Hi Mark,' I said like nothing had happened. But no one spoke – Jack stood here staring at the screen in shock, with Markie coming in to see what Jack was gawping at, and then he froze mid-pace too, staring at the screen. Luke looked back at me with instant sorrow on his face and I could tell he was feeling incredibly bad.

 _I'm so sorry, Grace,_ He told me softly.

 _It's not your fault, but maybe drop the scanner now._ I told him softly, holding his hand. He did what I said, but he had still recorded a tiny bit of footage of the scan that was now playing on the machine on repeat, but at least the sound had gone. I grabbed a tissue from the side, wiping my abdomen down before pulling down my baggy shirt and sitting up. Jack was still mesmerised at the screen and I looked at Luke. He looked as confused on what to do as I do.

'Did you find it okay?' I heard Theo down the corridor and immediately closed my eyes in embarrassment. Is this what it's like to wish that you weren't alive in a certain conversation? I opened my eyes up and Luke was now looking down at the floor in panic as his own brother joined the room in smart trousers and a plain white shirt.

'What are you two doing here – oh my…' Theo said, addressing both myself and Luke as first before seeing what my brother and his fiancé were seeing on the screen.

 _Well I suppose this is an easy way of telling our brothers._ I told Luke lightly and he turned around laughing slightly, rubbing my knee.

I jumped up before flinching at the weight I stupidly put on my leg. Luke also jumped up, gently holding my waist with one arm and letting me put a bit of weight on him. I smiled up at him thankfully and in his eyes were a beautiful look.

'We're just going to go now,' I said, trying to slide through and Jack put his arm out to stop me.

'What is this?' He asked softly, still looking at the screen. I sighed, before looking at the screen and back to him. Theo gently shut the door, leaving all five of us confined in a small room and I backed into Luke scared. He put his arm around my waist, sensing my fear.

'That would be the menu for KFC,' I joked and got the death look from Jack. I sighed again, not entirely sure how to say this. Luke and I hadn't even discussed it properly with each other, and now we have to tell our brothers? Luke, sensing my thoughts, kissed the crown of my head as if letting me know that it was okay.

'What do you think?' I hissed at Jack, annoyed. Was he going to make us spell it out?

'That, brothers of ours, is your new future niece or nephew,' Luke said proudly, and I couldn't help but grin up at him and the adorable tone he said it in just melted my heart. Luke was clearing eighteen hundred steps ahead of me on this whole pregnancy thing and whilst I was already struggling to keep up with what Luke had told me about the last couple of weeks, he was fully committed and dedicated and in a way, it made me feel a hundred times better about myself. He knew exactly what he was doing whilst I had no idea, and it made me feel okay with it as at least someone knew roughly what they were doing.

'What – how,' Markie whispered and I shot him a cheeky grin, 'Jesus, Grace, no, don't – I don't want to know about –'

'How far?' Jack asked, and he seemed angry. Theo looked up alarmed at the tone and even though he didn't say much and appeared as shocked as anyone else, he automatically appeared on our side. Luke mentioned that Theo knew about the baby as he signed the medical paperwork but I don't think he realised how far along I was or even to expect seeing the scan so soon.

'Jack,' Markie warned, frowning at him. Jack looked over at him and they had a brief conversation telepathically before Jack took a deep breath.

'Just over eleven weeks I think,' I mumbled and Jack looked at me.

'So far?'

'You're a nurse; you should know things like this. If baby is that big, it's not going to be two weeks along is it?' I snapped at him before biting my lip. 'Look, I'm struggling to get over this too; can we all just move on and pretend we didn't see anything?'

'How long have you known, though?' Theo asked me before shaking his head. 'Sorry, that seemed insensitive, Luke – how long have you?' He redirected his question. 'I know you mentioned it in hospital, well it was on the paperwork, but _this far?'_

'The day Grace was taken, they found out when they did the prelims on her,' Luke said softly.

'That long?' Jack asked back.

'Twelve week rule,' I shot back at him.

'You were abducted in that time Grace! You nearly died in surgery, you've been on all kinds of medicines,' Jack argued back.

'Oh I have been informed of that, but everything they used medicine wise was safe for the baby and see look, everything looks fine,' I retorted back. 'Whatever you lot say, we're keeping the baby so if you don't like it then decide now and it's simple – you won't be in his or her life.' I decided.

'It's not that we won't support you, Grace, it's just a bit of a shock,' Theo said sweetly.

'Okay well come back to me when you've decided your opinion,' I said, going to storm out. Well, I made it as far as the hospital bed, before putting too much weight on my dodgy leg, which then caused my leg to collapse. Would have been fine if the side of the medical bed wasn't there, the bit where the paper roll goes was gone, but it was still intact but empty. As I fell, I hit my head again on the corner of the metal bar and blacked out before I hit the floor.

'I swear down, Grace, I'm buying you a sumo suit made from bubble wrap and you are never allowed out of that bubble wrap suit ever, oh and you know you can get those toddler back pack with the reins on them for toddlers who run off? Going to have to get you an adult sized one of them, too.'

I woke up to someone playing with my hair and Luke gently talking to me. I had a massive headache now but I knew I was on some form of painkillers and on an uncomfortable bed. I eventually found the will to open my eyes and I was still in the medical room, with Luke sitting beside me, his hand tangled in my hair. Luke's blue eyes shone down at me, a small sweet smile on his face. 'Welcome back,' He said.

'Is she okay?' I heard Jack ask.

'Are you okay?' Luke repeated and I nodded. 'She nodded,' Luke relayed back onto Jack. Luke gently offered me his hand, helping me sit up and he pulled me back to lean against his chest, his legs either side of me. I took a moment to realise that Theo, Jack and Markie were sitting on three chairs a few feet away from the bed.

'What are they all doing?' I mumbled to Luke.

'Oh, well, after you collapsed again, nice going by the way, I took control. I made them all sit down and think about how they treated you and none of them are allowed to speak to you until they apologise for treating you like a criminal when you told them some of the best news they could have expected.' Luke said proudly and I rolled my eyes.

'Dramatic.' I told him and he shrugged.

'Don't care,'

'Grace, I'm so sorry. I knew about the baby, but I just had no idea it was so far along and as you can imagine, it wasn't what I was expecting to come in to,' Theo said first, leaning forward. 'I really feel awful for how I reacted,' He said softly and Luke changed how he was sitting to look at me.

 _Theo really does feel awful. He hasn't stopped apologising to me yet._ Luke said to me gently, running his fingers up and down my side trying to calm me down as I rested my throbbing head against him.

 _Yeah, I'm getting that vibe._

'It's alright, Theo, it's not you who I have the issue with,' I said sweetly before shooting Jack a death glare and he rolled his eyes. Theo grinned, though, and got up and hugged me.

'Thanks, Grace, and congratulations. I've ordered you something as a congratulations present but it won't be here for another week and a bit,' He whispered to me as we hugged, and I frowned as he pulled away.

'Intriguing,' I said jokingly.

'I'll leave now, don't want anyone else coming in and joining out party, see you in an hour or so,' Theo said sweetly and with that, he escaped the room with an aura of conflict. I looked immediately back over to Jack and Markie, who were sitting next to each other. Jack was now full on sulking, arms crossed and staring at me whilst Markie looked like all he wanted to do was apologise profusely and give me a hug and move on with life.

'Jack, what the fuck,' was all I could say. I struggled to sit up on the medical bed but with a helping hand from Luke I managed. He moved to sit next to me. 'What exactly is your problem? At the end of the day, it can either be your niece or nephew or you don't have to be in their life. I know which one I want you to be however it's blindingly obvious you have some kind of a massive issue with it,' I lectured him and he rolled his eyes.

'Eleven weeks, you said? You two have been together just over that. You barely knew each other when that was made,' Jack started, 'and so much has happened since then, Grace, and you expect us to be okay with it? You were literally kidnapped and you're acting like it's a normal thing. Of course I love you, and I support you and you know full well I want this kid in my life but you need to see this from our view too. You're my little sister, I made a promise to Mum and Dad that I would keep you safe if anything ever happened to them –' He swallowed, nearly in tears and I was on the edge as well, 'and then you get kidnapped and pretend like it never happened,'

'Because to me, it never did happen,' I told him tearing up. I sniffed and Luke hugged me to his side.

'But it did, Grace, and it was a horrific time for everyone, mainly everyone in this room right now because we're the people who care for you the most. I think I speak for all three of us when I say that we're struggling to keep up with you at the moment, your medical setbacks and watching you break down God knows how many times a day and now you don't know any of that, and you go and drop something massive like this on us.' Jack sighed.

'You scared the absolute shit out of me, because I had one simple job to do, the one thing I promise Mum and Dad, and I couldn't even do that. Then I had to watch you cry yourself to sleep at night or sit in the corner not speaking to anyone or curl up and watch Disney films and it was exactly what you were like after the car crash and it terrified me, it really did. I couldn't cope to see you that broken again. Then you got the all clear but just needed time to cope with everything I thought it would be all fine and back to how it was and then I waltz in here, and I see my future niece of nephew on the screen. Of course I'm going to flip out. That is what older brothers do. And you never even told me either,'

'Because I didn't know,' I added

'Okay fair enough. I'm sorry for flipping out, I was just scared and stressed and I think you can understand that,'

'Yeah,' I mumbled, playing with the hem of my shirt.

'So we're okay?'

'I'm still upset, but yeah we're alright,' I muttered and Jack grinned, coming to hug me tight. 'Only on one condition,' I mumbled to him so only he could understand. He made a noise to queue on the rest of my sentence. 'You don't give Luke the older brother speech,'

Jack pulled away laughing. 'Absolutely no chance, Grace,' He said and I rolled my eyes.

'Worth a try,' I said and I knew Luke was frowning at me.

'But we better go too, and you need to head back up to your room too before they send out the search squad for you, but congratulations,' Jack said, gesturing for Markie to leave the room too.

'Yeah, congratulations you too,' Markie said and with that, they left the room. I knew they would come a bit later and visit me but they probably had some list of jobs to do – centred around me. Luke hugged me a bit tighter and I fell back against his chest as he hugged me tight, kissing my temple.

'Sorry,' Luke muttered, 'I should have been more careful,'

'No, don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault,' I told him, 'At least we don't have to tell them, now just to work on your parents and I think we're golden,'

'Yeah, we're gonna be executed by father, but hey ho, who gives a shit. I have you back, that's all I need, ' Luke said, kissing my temple.

We eventually snuck back into our room, and later that day was removed back down to the exact same medical room which had been cleared out for the psych evaluations to see exactly what I remembered and if I could distinguish between what I was told and what I remembered. I cleared it fine, and got the news they would be moving both myself and Luke into Windsor that night or the very early hours of the morning when there was a minimal chance of being caught by the media. Despite Callus and his creepy men being arrested, there was no guarantee I was safe, but the media advisors told Luke it was best at some point to assure the public I was alive, healthy (to a point) and now was back with him.

I was sitting in front of the TV, watching "How to Get Away with Murder" on Netflix with a bowl of Cocoa Pops on my lap as Luke was packing down my clothing for me, and other belongings in order to take with us when we were eventually moved later.

'So who's coming with us?' I asked Luke as he came into the room with an armful of my clothes to fold and pack down despite my protests telling him I was more than able to do my packing myself. He didn't agree and forced me to sit down.

'Everyone, really, all of your cousins, Theo is staying for a few days before coming back. We're staying there indefinitely though, as, well, as it's pretty impenetrable.' Luke said, folding my many pairs of skinny jeans. 'Do you really need this many pairs of jeans?'

'Well, probably not as they won't fit soon,' I said with a mouth half full of cocoa pops, the formality between us two long gone.

'I dunno, you're eleven weeks gone and you have the smallest bump imaginable at the moment. These should be good for another few weeks,' Luke joked, ruffling my hair as he passed. 'And then I'll take you on a shopping trip. I got you into this situation,'

I made some very non-PG comments back to him and he looked at me horrified as I shrugged. It was true what I said – if _he_ was _careful_ then we wouldn't be in this situation. But he shot back some comments about my failed pill and I ended up grinning. It was only then I realised he had taken a photo of me.

'Oh my God what was that?' I asked him as he came and sat next to me.

'The photo for Instagram, God get with it,' He joked, slouching next to me. Both Luke and Theo were known as being very, well, young Prince's and were both on social media, with high twitter and Instagram followers. Theo, however, was a bit quieter and rarely posted. The same cannot be said for Luke, whose photos and videos were just parties and so on.

The photo he took was cute; you could see the TV in the background with me in the corner of the sofa in a well-lit room, in pyjamas, with a blanket over my lap, cereal on top and smiling as I watched TV. However, both of us knew I wasn't smiling at the TV but rather the comments about how our baby was conceived. It added a hilarious twist to the photo. Luke hesitated for a moment before tagging my Instagram account to the photo and added the caption.

" _Absolutely over the moon to have my girl, Grace, back, safe and well(ish), and finally able to show her off to the World. Our relationship hasn't been smooth but we're working on it, and I cannot wait to see what it has in store for both of us."_

Luke looked over at me with a cheeky grin and I pretended to throw up before he turned slightly, digging out a piece of paper from his jeans, which must have been handed to him by the media advisor, as he typed it out word for word.

 _"Both of us would like to thank everyone who helped with the Global manhunt to find her, and if it wasn't for the people who called in and gave the police the tips they did, we could still be searching for her now. She wouldn't be back home safe if it wasn't for you lot so we owe you one,"_

'I'm confident the last bit was not written by a middle aged lady in bodycon dresses,' I said and Luke shrugged.

'Well, I can't put in there "Oh, yeah, we never got tipped off, Grace told me telepathically where she was, but thanks for being useless" can I?' Luke said, kissing my forehead.

'Fine,'

" _So expect to see much more of my beautiful girlfriend and whatever is to come for both of us!"_ He finished writing, reading it over once more, before looking at me.

'You ready?' Luke said.

'Wait,' I said, taking his phone and changing my name in the text to my Instagram name, before pressing enter, and the post was out to the world. 'Of course I'm ready,' I said and Luke took his phone, locking it and throwing it across the room before kissing me.

'I hope you always will be ready,' Luke said sweetly as both of our phones started to vibrate constantly as the World started to see the post. Which was brilliant as we no longer had to hide and everyone knew I was safe but it also stuck a massive signpost, telling anyone who wanted to find me again where I am.

We were all packed down and ready to leave by three in the morning. The Instagram post had gone viral completely, with it already attracting hundreds of thousands of likes and comments most were completely supportive and lovely and genuine, complimenting both of us and the few harsh ones were immediately deleted by an overprotective Luke. My following on Instagram had gone up massively, with photos from my graduation and Nando's with Luke the second day I met him getting thousands upon thousands of likes too. It was trending on Twitter and Facebook and all the news anchors were reporting it as a minor story.

I was waiting alone in one of the many reception rooms on the ground floor, reading through the comments.

 _"So jealous but they seem really nice together"_

 _"Too cute!"_

 _"Not fair – I wanted Luke"_

'You'll always get mean comments, don't let it get you down,' A voice said beside me and I jumped and Caroline appeared out of nowhere.

'It's, like, half three, what are you doing up?' I asked Caroline gently.

'Well, you were leaving, can't leave without saying goodbye,' She hugged me gently. 'I'm so glad you and the little one are safe,'

I pulled back from the hug.

'What did you say?' I asked slightly shocked and Caroline laughed.

'Grace, I can see the future, I know you're pregnant. I'm so happy for you and Luke, I really am. You will both make brilliant parents. Well, you will – Luke needs to grow up a tiny bit first but he'll get there eventually. I wish you would have told me, though,'

'When did you find out?' I mumbled, amazed. 'Does Luke know you know?'

'I saw you with a new-born beginning of July for my birthday when you went down to Cornwall, and I went to go and talk to you when you came back because I was uncertain it would be yours or like, Jack's adopted daughter or something, and then you… you know, I checked the paperwork and Luke thought he hid it really well but he didn't and it confirmed it was yours. That's how I managed to pull the strings and get the operation moving as fast as it could even though Luke thinks it was him, so keep that one between us,' Caroline said, joining me leaning on the shelf. Once again, would never have thought a year ago I would be having this conversation with the Queen of the United Kingdom but hey ho.

'Did you say daughter?'

'I meant daughter or son,' She corrected quickly and I didn't believe her.

'Right,'

'So congratulations – when were you planning on telling me?'

'I was leaving that up to Luke to decide, but it looks like he doesn't have to now,' I joked and she grinned.

'I'll pretend I didn't know for him, I just thought you would need a bit more moral support. Luke is good at showing things, but I know what females are like when pregnant. They need as much support as they can. You'll understand the further along you get. So, just so you know, I will support you and Luke fully, and we will accept your daughter or son as our grandchild. Even if they steal the show at my birthday ball next summer,' Caroline teased and I smiled, tearing up.

'Thank you,' I whispered choking up on tears. Caroline hugged me.

'Mum, what are you doing up?' Luke shouted from across the room as he walked in. 'It's stupidly early in the morning,'

'I was making sure Grace was okay and coming to say goodbye to you,' Caroline lied, winking at me in the process. 'Just making sure there was nothing you haven't told me about her too,'

'Of course not, I've filled you in,' Luke said and Caroline smiled.

'You always forget something,'

'I didn't this time,'

'Okay,' Caroline said. 'I'll be around tomorrow afternoon, I don't think your Father can make it, he's got a flight out to Dubai for meetings,'

It seemed like Edward was doing everything he can to avoid me at the moment, only popping in for two minutes when Luke was in the shower to ask if I was okay, and to see if I needed anything before leaving again.

'No surprises there, then,' Luke said, kissing his mothers cheek. 'Now get your arse back to bed, you need more beauty sleep as you get older,' He said with a cheeky grin.

'Watch it, Luke, you might be moving out but it doesn't mean I can't still tell you off,' Caroline retorted as she left the room. Luke came over to me, gently kissing me.

'When do you think we should tell her?' Luke told me and I had to hide my smile.

'Whenever you want too,' I mumbled back and he bent down to kiss me.

'It doesn't matter, it's just you and me against the world,' Luke said softly, but he had no idea how true that statement would become.

/

Holy shit - I had no idea that this was anywhere near 100 reviews and it's only just sunk in that.. that's a lot of people reviewing. Thank you so much for the guest who informed me that it was 100 reviews, and of course Sabinethafangirl for the 100 reviews. I would have given up like I did after chapter five (throwbacks) if it wasn't for all the fantastic reviews so thank you so much.


	29. Chapter 29

**Twenty Nine**

We were locked in Buckingham Palace for another few hours. We had loaded up the cars – some of the security vehicles had their boots full and we had packed up Ruby – Luke's car – to the brim with our bags before we got told that it wasn't safe to go outside. The press had come in hard when Luke shared the Instagram post, and they were all waiting for some exclusive news. It would take about five hours, or at the earliest nine in the morning, for the all clear order to be signed and dated and put into place. Until then, we were sitting ducks. We sat in one of the reception rooms and watched the sun rise at around six in the morning after a quick nap on the sofa before we tuned into the news.

It was odd seeing my face as a headline.

The lady on the news read out a statement about Luke's posting on Instagram which has been widely shared and widely criticized. It seemed like everyone was against us. Quite literally - me and him against the world. People were saying I was with him just for the money, or fame, or because my parents paid him, or that Luke had cheated on me, or that he was using me to appear less like a man-whore. Anything nasty that could be said was. And it upset me. But it also upset Luke. He was reading through the posts on Facebook in gossip columns and in this morning's newspaper where I had made page 2, the first page dedicated to ongoing wars. I curled up into Luke's side, so he was sitting normally with his arm around me and I was curled up in his side, facing away from him.

Upset, I opened Facebook amazed to see that Buzzfeed already had an article one me and "fifteen things you didn't know about Grace Williams," - I was more amazed that no one had pointed out that, a few months previous, no one knew who I was. But I opened the link and scrolled through amazed of how they found out so much information. The article mentioned my parent's death and Luke hugged me tighter so I could only assume he was reading it as well. It carried on to mention my degree and somehow the grades I got a A-level too, they mentioned about my brother and brother-in-law-to-be and had a photo of us taken from Jack's Instagram the summer after my first year at university at a summer barbeque. It continued with photos with my friends and even had one or two things I didn't know about myself either.

'This is stupid,' Luke sighed.

'Yeah, I didn't know I went vegan for two years when I was thirteen either,' I joked mockingly in regards to the article.

'I'll deal with it later,' He whispered sweetly to me as I shrouded a yawn with the back of my hand. 'Do you want to have a nap? I'll wake you up if anything interesting happens,' I nodded and Luke adjusted the way he was sitting, so he was lying down behind me. Wanting to be a bit closer, I rolled over so my forehead was against his sternum and my legs in-between his and he smiled, kissing my forehead.

'This is adorable,' He mumbled but I was already in the early stages of sleep.

Luke shook me awake as a clock in the house struck ten – I counted each strike before opening my eyes – and we were still lying on the sofa. However, Theo had joined us in the room, sitting on the coffee table.

'Morning Grace,' Theo said sweetly.

'Morning,' I whispered back.

'You awake enough to talk too?'

'Sure,' I said, rolling over awkwardly to face him. He was in another pair of jeans and a button down shirt, with a sheet of paper in his hand. He gave me a sweet smile and I covered a yawn with my hand.

'They've got down the media ban around this place so you can get out of London, but they can't reinforce it at Windsor. Windsor doesn't have the same status as here, and we simply can't get the same reinforcement.' Theo said, checking the paper he had in front of him.

'And what does that mean in simple terms?' Luke asked a bit groggily so I could only guess he had a nap too.

'I would have expected you to know this, you've been dealing with it for twenty years,' Theo mumbled.

'Nearly twenty one,' Luke bragged.

'Sweetheart, that makes it worse,' I told him softly and Theo grinned but there was a shadow in his eyes and I frowned at him, wondering what it was. Sadness? But it was gone as soon as it came.

'Means you can get out fine without pictures being taken, but we can't guarantee the same at Windsor. They won't know where you're heading but we know that doesn't stop them. They want this to be headline news,' Theo explained.

'Grace, you alright with that?' Luke asked me softly and I nodded.

'I was going to say you might have to get used to it. This might be your life from here on in,' Theo said and I turned my nose up. 'Apart from when the little one comes, then we can sort something out,' Theo said and that haunted look was back in his eyes. There was a moment or so silence as Luke checked his phone but I continued to look at Theo. He looked up, realising his own behaviour and changed. 'So we're ready to leave whenever you're ready, well I'll be coming down a few hours after you, let you two have some private them,' Theo got up, folding the paper in half as he walked out.

'Why is your brother being weird?' I asked Luke as the door closed.

'Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed. I have no idea – I can only guess jealousy,' Luke sighed.

'Jealous? Of what?' I asked, getting up and stretching.

'He's a few years older, remember, and then you literally rock up, find you're my Soulfinder, now we're moving in together and have a child on the way in the space of a few months. It's natural to be jealous. I'll speak to him later,' Luke mumbled to me, aware he might be on the other side of the door.

'Thank you,' I said as Luke also got up, picking his car keys up from the table where he threw them earlier. 'Wait, how is my car going to get there.'

'Er, didn't want to the one to tell you this,' Luke said and my heart dropped. 'Your car developed a coolant leak when you were kidnapped, and they took it to a garage and it's basically a write-off,' He pulled a face. 'We're working on finding you a new car,'

'My little baby,' I mumbled and he came over and hugged me again.

'Your car is going to car heaven,' Luke said.

'I loved her,'

'She will always have a special place to us,' Luke chucked under his breath, aware of how stupid it sounds.

'Guess we'll add car shopping to our list of things to do over the next month and a bit,' I sighed, wondering what kind of car I could afford.

'Don't worry, Mum's on it. She's ordered people to look for new-ish Corsa's, made this side of 2012. She wasn't happy with you driving an old car, not that I know why, but she's paying for it and everything, they'll drop it off in Windsor,' Luke said. 'And no matter how much you protest, she said she won't drop it,'

'May as well protest in the car to Windsor then,' I added.

/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\

We were in Windsor by half two in the afternoon by the time it took all the security clearance to go through, even though Luke broke half of the rules after trying to overtake security on the motorways and then broke off from the front half of security to go find a drive-through McDonalds, where he ordered for the security blokes in the car behind us who suddenly looked a lot less pissed. But eventually, we met the front two cars of security who then lead us through into the centre of London and to the castle.

Having grown up about twenty minutes away from Windsor, I used to come here shopping quite a bit and do the long-walk, a five kilometre straight path leading from the castle down to a statue on a pile of rocks and then back up again, picking up a milkshake before getting a lift home. In summer, it was lovely and I would normally end up with mild sunburns on my fair skin. Or I would take a boat ride down the Thames that passed the castle with some friends from A-level, all of which have stopped talking to me over the last two years. My foul moods following both of my parent's deaths deterred them from following up conversations anymore. I could understand them, but it still upset me. Good friends would stick with you. Not that I was overly bothered, two months after I met Mycelia and Sara and we got on like a house on fire and even after I was kidnapped, they were working ways to try and get me found and home again.

'People are already taking photos,' he huffed slightly.

'Yeah, but, look how close we are to Nando's, and Zizzis, and look another McDonalds,' I joked and he grinned at me as we stopped just down the hill leading to the castle. There were a few members of the press there with professional camera's flashing away but I couldn't care less.

'God, you and your addiction to fast food,' Luke shook his head and I pulled a face.

'I'm not addicted, I just like chicken,' I said. He looked out the window, where a photographer stood a few meters away, snapping away. Mockingly, he saluted him.

 _I'll let you off, you're eating for two._ He told me and I could sense his grin.

 _Please don't phrase it like that, that just seems weird. It still hasn't sunk in._ I replied to him, looking out the window at the new place I was going to stay. It seemed a bit –surreal. I had to fight all instincts to put my hand over my tummy.

 _It's sunk in for me, I'm so excited._ Luke said, checking his phone that just vibrated. _Just Theo._ He said softly.

 _Well I was only told yesterday I found out, and it is kind of in my body._ I told Luke and he looked over at me and I met his gaze. _Okay yeah, you told me that I was told like a month and a half ago or whatever, and I was so excited when you told me. But I don't remember that, Luke, I have known for just over a day and of course it's not sunk in._ I told him looking away.

 _But you still want to keep it, right?_ Luke asked tentatively as the cars started moving and he crept forward, but as I looked over at him and he looked really scared.

 _Yeah, I guess, but it doesn't seem real, you know? So much has happened. I have no idea what to do, Luke, what to expect or anything. No idea what to do._ I said gently.

 _Nor do I, Grace, but we will do this together. We will read books and go to all kinds of weird ass classes like you see on TV, and we will have literally no idea what to do together and we will raise our little baby together._ I looked over at Luke with a massive grin. He returned the smile, touching my knee as we went further up the small hill to the parking bay. 'I promise,' Luke said.

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\

Luke showed me around the place and it was incredible. Dated, but incredible. He explained that both him and Luke had their own little apartment within the castle, his place located on the third floor to the east of the building, tucked away in a corridor off another corridor from the main walkway. Luke explained to me that we would be staying within his little place there with security outside but they're never allowed inside, so we will have complete privacy. He said the last bit with a small smile.

However his "small" or "tiny" place was not small or tiny but huge. The place was massive, and spread out across three floors. The bottom consisted of a massive lounge with black leather sofas, a fireplace, a TV attached to the wall and a small bookcase filled with books. He showed me to another massive room, this time a kitchen with black granite work tops and an island in the middle. There was a staircase next to the kitchen, and a downstairs loo, another reception room. He then showed me around the middle floor, with another bathroom, two bedrooms. He then showed me another room and it took my breath away. For some reason, Luke had a massive library in his apartment, the bookshelves that were ceiling height, were crammed with books. However, on the desk in the middle of the library, was a massive pile of university text books, a laptop and notebooks full with crinkled pages of writing.

'You were a hard worker,' I mumbled, going over and flicking through the A4 notepads full with notes. Luke stood awkwardly. 'When are you going back?'

'I'm not,' He said.

'That wasn't the correct answer,' I mumbled.

'Grace, you were kidnapped. The people who kidnapped you might still be willing to do it again. You're pregnant, our baby will be due in the summer, my parents hate each other and are fighting every night and I still have to pretend to be a normal human the second after my twenty first birthday and do all of this bullshit "royal duty" so if you can find space for me to go out and become a paramedic whilst raising a baby, parent resolution and keeping you safe, please tell me,' He sighed.

'I am more than capable to look after a baby for a 9-5 shift, five times a week, Luke,' I sighed.

'But, are you?' He said and I spun around to look at him ready to yell at him but there was a look in his eyes – sadness. He didn't mean it in an arsey way, but in an honest way.

'I came along and ruined everything for you didn't I?' I sighed.

'No, no of course you didn't,' Luke said.

'Don't lie to me, Luke. I know I did, you were planning on going back. This is recent, there hardly any dust. You have done this when you were recovering from your wounds after you came back. You were going to start back in October, weren't you?' I said and he looked down at the floor, swallowing. He eventually and I closed my eyes. 'I then came along and –'

'And you were my priority. You became my hopes and dreams, Grace, you're all I wanted.' Luke said.

'No, no, stop, Luke. You still want to become a paramedic, you've told me. I'm not tying you down, Luke, and you'll be graduated before the little one comes, and please don't let me tie you down,' I said to him. He sighed. I walked into his chest and he hugged me tight.

'We'll look into it,'

'Surrey do paramedic science, they'll take you on,' I mumbled.

'I'll look into it,' Luke mumbled.

'Yeah, you better, because I'm going to need you to know what you're doing in case I go into labour and we can't get to a hospital,' I joked and he cringed.

'No chance, I'll get you to a hospital.' Luke replied, his arm around my waist. 'I'm not going to go down there… all kinds of nasty,' He said, mock gagging.

'Seriously?' I laughed slightly.

'I'm okay with all kinds of nasty, but fine – I'll look into it,' Luke said, leading me out the room to show me the rest of the house.

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\

 **Luke's POV**

Grace absolutely loved the place which was a massive relief, as we would be spending the majority of our time there. However, she probed me about going back to university which I wanted to do. I really did. I had looked into it in October. I wanted to do something with my life rather than open buildings officially, or do tours of old peoples home until I was in my eighties and then do bugger all. I wanted to be a normal person. I was fed up with always being talked about in gossip columns and being useless. But meeting Grace put that on hold. She didn't believe me when I said that she was now my number one priority. But when I met her, trying to make her better, and happy, became my priority. She was broken, falling apart and only I could see that. I realised as I spent time with her, that in a way having that socialisation with her was making her better. She gained confidence and happiness and I done the exact same and we were both better people. And if being with her done incredible things for both of us, why would I let her go?

I was debating about going back until she was kidnapped, and I found out about our baby. Then it was the debate of will I have enough time to spend with Grace, and then helping out with the baby, if I became a paramedic? I knew the shifts could be unsocial to say the least, but it's what I wanted to do. And Grace was supportive. She had done university, she had been there and she understood the workload and she was still telling me to do it. I knew she was right and I would have finished my dissertation in third year before our baby had even come but then I would want to go out and work. And was that achievable with a baby, and then the workload that comes with being royalty?

However, there was no way in hell Grace would let me drop the idea. She knew me inside out and she knew the only thing holding me back was the idea of letting her down which she denied to high hell. At dinner, as the maids insisted on making us food for our return (maids I got on very well with and considered them close friends) Grace was on her phone constantly and when I asked her what she was looking at, she told me she was looking at the university of Surrey's program of paramedical sciences, before sending me the link.

I had already emailed them and arranged to give them a call tomorrow at some point, but I didn't want to tell Grace to prevent her any stress.

It was around half ten, but Grace was already asleep in bed, lying next to me. I sat up, back against the headboard of the bed as she lay beside me, curled up facing away from me and the light of my phone, but fast asleep. I was still awake and had decided in the spur of the moment to download a pregnancy book to make it look like I at least knew something about what was happening inside and to my girlfriend.

I got to chapter six, which was starting to explain exactly what has happening as each week went past when Grace started to get restless in her sleep. It started off with the odd noise, and then I noticed she was crying.

'Grace? Are you awake?' I whispered to her but there was no reply. She started twitching before acting like she was trying to fight someone off. I flicked the lamp on beside her. 'Grace, wake up now, it's a bad dream,' I realised as I said it. She was having a nightmare. She was kicking out against the duvet, trying to push it off before mumbling something in her sleep. I knew I heard my name in there, and a mention of Callus, as the tears kept rolling down her cheek. 'Wake up now, Grace, you're okay, you're safe,'

It took another few minutes of coaxing her out from her sleep to get her to wake up, and when she did, she bolted forward and looked incredibly panicked.

'Grace, Grace, sweetheart, it's only me, no one is here, no one is going to hurt you,' I told her softly, holding my hands up as she looked at me, frowning, tears in her eyes. She was panting, like she had run a marathon, and sweating too.

'You're okay,' She said, frowning at me, holding my arm to steady herself but she also looked confused. She gently touched my chest, frowning, tears in her eyes. 'You're okay?'

'I'm fine, Grace,' I said but before I even finished saying her name, she hugged me tight as she started to cry. I pulled her onto my lap. 'What was you seeing, sweetheart?'

'I don't know,' She whispered back, in tears, and I knew she was terrified. I hated doing it, but I dipped into her mind trying to desperately find what she was dreaming about, knowing my gift stemmed a lot more than just reading thoughts but when focusing, I could also see all other cognitive processes and when around Grace, the added enhancement of the Soulfinder bond allowed me to manipulate them too. But Grace couldn't remember what she dreamt about, she could only remember blurs of what she had seen.

'It's okay, popcorn, you're safe,' I told her, hugging her tight and rocking her. 'I won't let anyone harm you ever again, you're safe with me. You're safe here,' I told her over and over again until her breathing slowed down, she stopped crying and seemed calmer. She had started to shake, so I threw a blanket around us.

'Sorry,' She mumbled to me.

'Don't be silly, Grace, it's okay,' I whispered back, still hugging her tight.

'You must have been tired,'

'I was up reading, don't worry about it.'

'Reading what?' she asked and I knew she was trying everything she could to distract her mind.

'Nothing interesting,'

'Uni work? Medical journals? Acceptance letter?' She asked.

'Nope,'

'Oh,' She sounded sad.

'In all honesty, I was reading a baby book, I didn't want you to think that I was useless and knew nothing,' I told her and she smiled.

'Seriously?'

'Yeah,'

'God, you're adorable,' She said.

'Come on, let's go to bed now,' I said, putting her down on the bed as I plugged my phone in to charge telekinetically, before laying down and spooning her. I placed my hand over her tummy, like we normally do, but this time her hand met mine there, linking together.

'Sorry for being so messed up,' She mumbled.

'You're not messed up,' I mumbled back but she didn't reply.

The next three weeks went past incredibly quick, and before we knew it December was upon us. Grace was getting better each day without any memories of what had happened and everyone just assumed she would never remember what happened when she was kidnapped despite her having the occasional bad dream and waking up crying and lashing out. Her family had returned back home with promises to return more often and Jack visited twice a week with Markie at his side with the news that they were moving into a bigger house with three bedrooms in case we wanted to stay over, and the odd _hint_ of them adopting a child soon, or fostering.

The media shit storm had calmed down too, after Theo ordered everyone not to post any unsolicited photos without being passed through our newly-hired media advisor. It came a day too late as everyone had taken photos of me and Grace, in Ruby, as we waited outside the castle for the tourists to be moved out so we could get in. In all fairness, it was an incredibly cute photo of us two, mid-conversation, grinning at each other. Once the media advisor had it under control, we managed to get out the castle unnoticed and to the hospital where Markie and Jack worked, where one of Markie's sisters who worked in the maternity ward, done the twelve week ultrasound for us and agreed to help us get the paperwork off record so no one could report it. Sasha, Markie's second eldest sister, was incredibly lovely to us and chatted away happily for over two hours. I guess she knew Grace well, but accepted me as part of the family without too much awe and attention.

We worked on telling people – my first priority was my mother. I was stressing out about how she would react whilst Grace didn't appear to care too much like she knew mother would take the news well. And sure enough, mother did. She hugged me and said she would support us fully before grilling us to death on everything. I had yet to tell father, who had been abroad thankfully for the entire time, not that he cared about me anymore. He had barely contacted mother, and had no contact with myself or Theo. I knew my parents relationship had been deteriorating greatly over the last few years, and recently they had barely been seen together. Not that either of them looked concerned. I think Grace was the final chisel between them and I could only guess soon a divorce was on the way.

The idea was meant to upset me, but instead made me incredibly happy. My mother was an incredible person on her own, and my father never made the effort until it came to selling me off. Until then he just moaned. However, father would be completely ejected from royalty and the throne would be entirely my mothers. And once father left, Grace would be welcomed into the family fully.

The physiotherapy for Grace's leg was going amazingly and it was like she was back to normal. There was little to no pain, her walking was fine and the scars looked incredible thanks to Xav's doing, who was the last cousin of Grace's to leave. Everyone was incredibly impressed by Grace that Mum had booked us both in to do a tour of a school.

'What do you mean?' I hissed down the phone to my Mum as she told me.

'People need to see that she is doing fine, especially when the news about the baby comes out which will be just after the New Year around the twenty week scan,' Mum told me but I could tell the move was reluctant. 'It's the same Catholic school you were booked in to tour a few months back before this whole kidnapping happened. I've asked Grace when I was there if she was willing to do it, and she was. You don't have to spend the whole day there, Luke,'

'Fine,' I protested, unwillingly.

'It'll be good for you too; the only thing the media has shown about you is your addiction to Nando's,' She mocked.

I smirked – it had become somewhat of a habit for me to book a takeaway Nando's within the castle and when the email came through saying it was ready for collection, I would just stroll out of the castle despite the tourists and the media taking photos of me, pick up the Nando's and walk back into the castle. Only a few images have got out but it all seemed to be in good humour.

'When is it?'

'Two days' time. It's close to Jack's place, and we said you'd be there at nine so it might be worth asking if you can stay with him for the night. Anyway, have to go. Love you, Luke, send my love to Grace too,'

'Will do, Mum, love you too,' and I hung up the phone. I turned around to Grace, who was lying in just her underwear on the bed reading a book. She tilted her head as she realised I was off the phone. I couldn't help but notice the bump Grace was developing. She was now about fourteen weeks, and her due date was 25th June which couldn't seem longer away if it tried.

'Where is the place?'

'Somewhere in Farnborough, where they do the military air show.' I said, lying next to her. She frowned.

'I went to sixth form around there,' She said and I sat up, frowning. I thought she wasn't religious? 'I didn't go to a catholic sixth form, but I think I know the place. It's just… down the road a bit. Really close to where Jack and Markie work,'

'Think we should stay the night,'

'I'll call them,' She said, rolling over and standing off the bed. 'Even though they said it will be fine. We'd be sharing the futon,'

'That's fine with me,' I told her as she nodded, dialling her brothers number. She put it on speakerphone as it dialled. Jack picked up on the second wrong.

'You alright? What's wrong?' He asked immediately.

'Nothing's wrong Jack, calm down,' Grace said to him and he sighed.

'Alright, natural response now,' Jack sighed, and I could hear the sounds of the ward behind him.

'I'm okay now,' Grace told him even though I knew she wasn't okay. She's continued to have nightmares for three weeks, waking up in tears and sweat covered at least twice a night, and every time she's amazed that I'm alive and okay so she was seeing something to do with me being injured or killed but we still hadn't got down to the bottom as to what she was dreaming about, or why she was, or more simply how to stop her dreaming about whatever it was.

'Okay,' Jack sighed. I had kept him up to date about her nightmares as both of us were now scared of what she was seeing, but Grace had no idea he knew. 'What's up then, Grace?'

'Tomorrow night, is it alright if we stay over,'

'Yeah sure, you have a spare key. Come over whenever you want.' Jack said without any more questions.

'Thanks, see you then. Call you later, too,'

'Alright, love you,' and Jack hung up the phone.

'God I wish I was that close with Theo,' I sighed shaking my head. 'You just invited yourself around and he was like yeah sure have fun come over, play with our cat,' I mocked. She lay next to me, snuggling up to me slightly as I ran my fingers over her side. 'Its midday, perhaps get changed now,' I told her softly and she leaned forward to kiss me.

'You sure?' Grace mumbled, pressing her body against mine. I had to take a deep breath.

'Yes, get changed,' I replied back reluctantly and she visibly sulked.

'I will, only if we can go out today,' She said, still leaning into me.

'Where would you want to go,' I asked, awkwardly. She had been told she wasn't allowed out until her leg was better.

'Just literally out of here. Let's do the long walk,' Grace decided.

'That's over nine kilometres, Grace,'

'Yeah, noticed,' She said grinning at me.

'Can your leg do that?' I asked tentatively.

'Er, dunno, haven't tried. We can always stop off. Please, Luke, I've been cooped up for weeks now, please let me go outside. It's a lovely sunny day, and it's cold, and they said fresh air is good for pregnant people…'

'Fine.' I said reluctantly and she straddled me, kissing me softly.

'Thank you, love you,' She said and I held her tight.

'The shit I do for you. But dress up warm, alright?' I told her and she rolled her eyes before getting off me and over to the wardrobe to get changed. I mentioned something about her about getting a drink and left the room, closing the door behind her. I managed to get down to the middle floor as my phone started vibrating. I pulled out my phone from my back pocket, knowing it would either be my mother or Theo, or Grace calling me as she's too lazy to call me.

Instead, Victor's name displayed on the phone and I frowned, answering it.

'Hello?' I said.

'Luke, it's Vick,' He said in a serious tone and my heart has sunk.

'What's happened?'

'It's not good news, we're just about to fly out,' Vick said mysterious.

'What's happened?' I repeated.

'Grace isn't with you, at the moment, is she? We need to talk.'


	30. Chapter 30

**Thirty**

 **Luke's POV**

Vick's phone call to me was short; he said something bad had happened in the case against Callus but he refused to tell me what was happening as it was still developing, but he was boarding a plane and coming over to us as we spoke, to be here tonight. He told me he would be about eleven hours to get to us, and to make sure Grace was awake for when he came over. Until then, don't make her suspicious of whatever was happening as it was the best way to keep her safe.

But safe from what?

 **Grace's POV**

I met Luke by the back gate, leading to the start of the long walk. He was in a pair of jeans and a light grey hoody, whilst I was in black skinny jeans and a black shirt with a green bomber jacket over the top, nicely covering my stomach but keeping me adequately warm. It was only around ten degrees outside, and despite the blue skies and beaming sun, there was a slight wind. However, there was only a handful of tourist and another handful of dog walkers and runners. Luke wasn't concerned about photos but he looked on edge.

'You alright?' I said, coming up behind him and hugging him, my hands around his waist. He gently put his hand on top of mine as he jumped slightly.

'Yeah, you ready?' he said avoiding eye contact.

'What's wrong?' I asked.

'Nothing,'

'Luke don't lie to me,'

'Grace, honestly, as far as I've been told, everything is okay,' Luke said, sticking on his shoes.

'As far as you've been _told?_ ' I asked. Luke never lied to me, but avoided the truth by clever phrasing. However, this time, it wasn't so clever. 'Who told you what?'

'Grace, please sweetheart,' He said, hugging me close. 'Do you trust me?'

'Of course I do,' I mumbled back, my heartrate through the roof.

'Then just trust me on this one, you'll find out soon but even I have no idea what it is,' Luke mumbled. I sighed but I wanted to know. Luke had been so calm over the last three weeks as everything was thrown at him, court case dates for the trail against Callus, the pregnancy scans, telling his family, but throughout all of it he remained calm and composed. Even when I woke up a few times each nights, convinced Luke was dead and it was my fault even though I can't remember why I thought that, he was beside me, hugging me and wiping away my tears. But now, he was panicked. What had made him so scared? 'Please don't ask anything more Grace, I really don't know what it is about either,' Luke said, gently touching my hand.

'Okay,' I said, trusting him enough to believe him but it didn't stop me from being scared.

'Let's go then,'

As none of Luke's security knew we were heading out, we had to climb over the fifteen foot fence that blocks of the Palace from the long walk but Luke seemed to clear it easily like he had done it hundreds of times before – which I guess he had. It took me a bit longer, but thankfully upper body strength was my thing, and my leg didn't affect the climb and Luke caught me as I dropped down. There were around twenty people who looked shocked as we climbed over and some took some photos on their mobile phones, but Luke ignored it, gently moving to hold my hand as we set off

Luke held my hand the entire way down the long walk, which did take a long time with a dodgy leg. Every person we went past, Luke made the effort to greet them all, the majority with a charming smile and a curt "afternoon" in their direction. We made it down to the end in just over two hours with frequent stops and a drop off to a hot doughnut stand, with the vender looking very surprised when Luke ordered 24 warm doughnuts, a coke and a coffee from him. We knew out photo was being taken as we sat down on the grass, Luke so close to me he may as well have been sitting on my lap, with one arm around me at all times. He wasn't normally like this so I knew how on edge he was. We talked about all kinds of stupid things, nothing about us or the baby though as I knew that there was always a chance someone would report on us. Two teenagers came up to Luke, asking for photos and I opted to be the photographer, but was more amazed when they wanted a photo of both myself and Luke with them.

'How is your leg,' He asked me softly as we got up from sitting on the grass near the statue. We could only just about see the palace in the distant background, and security was none the wiser, or if they were they weren't able to locate us yet.

'A bit painful,' I told him the truth, 'It's more the muscles. I guess I haven't walked that much since, you know, but Xav said It'll take a few months to get back to normal,' I said and he nodded, his fingers knitting through mine. He checked the area, and no one was around us at all, the sun starting to drop and the temperature with it.

'Well in a few months, we'll be getting ready to welcome the newest edition to our tiny family,' Luke said softly under his breath.

'Do you ever stop talking about her?'

'Her?' Luke asked, frowning.

'Or him,' I said, shrugging. 'Whichever one you prefer,'

'I don't mind. As long as I can read them books at night, have cuddles, watch Disney films and play with them in the garden, go to school plays and help them with homework, and they're completely healthy and you're completely healthy and fine too, then I really don't mind,' Luke said sweetly and I grinned to myself. 'I know I asked you this before, and you didn't really mind, but what would you prefer?'

'You've asked me this before?' I quizzed, frowning.

'A few hours before Crystal did her thing,' Luke said and I nodded. Another memory I will never be able to get back, then.

'Er, I don't really mind, same as you I guess.' I said shyly.

'Then why did you refer to the baby automatically as a girl? If you don't have a preference, you wouldn't have slipped up,' Luke said and I smiled up at him.

'Someone does pay attention when I speak psychology, love it.' I said to him and he put his arm around me. We had just made it down the hill from the statue – so another four point nine kilometres to go until we have to have dinner and then pack our bags, ready to head to Jack's place tomorrow, in order to go to some school tour.

'Well?' Luke probed again, not letting go of the topic. I looked around, hoping for there to be someone but there was no one. Damn.

'Well, I think your Mum knows we'll be having a girl,' I said, pulling a face and looking up at him. 'She's known for a while. When you came downstairs before we left Buckingham and I was talking to her, she told me then she knew. She didn't say on purpose a gender, but she said she saw me at her birthday meal in July with a relatively new born baby, and she thought at first it might have been Jack's _daughter_ and then realised, well, it was mine. I did ask her about it and she said it was just a slip of the tongue, she was meant to say daughter or son, but it's been on my mind since then,' I told him and he stopped after the second sentence.

'She's known? For how long?' Luke asked.

'Before we went down to Cornwall,' I mumbled.

'Before we went down to Cornwall?' He shouted.

'Yup, way to attract the crowds, his Royal Highness,' I said, bowing and he immediately snapped out of it. He hates it when I do that, so I save it for when he's being a pain in the ass or not being discrete at all. He hugged me closer.

'Before we went down to Cornwall? We didn't even know then!'

'I'm assuming nor did she, she assumed it was Jack's adopted kid until she checked the paperwork when I was admitted to hospital before the kidnapping, or just after I don't know but there was paperwork checking and she realised it was me,' I said, shrugging.

'Daughter,' Luke said, grinning and shaking his head. 'She doesn't normally slip up on things like that, but we'll give her the benefit of the doubt.' Luke said but I stopped and he frowned.

'She doesn't normally slip up?'

'Nope,' Luke said, shaking his head, 'She normally does speeches with no preparation at all and has to be extremely careful with what she says on the spot. She doesn't have word slips up at all.' And I grinned.

'So you think… girl?'

'More likely than not,' Luke said, grinning down at me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he picked me up, spinning me around before kissing me softly.

'Our little girl,' I mumbled.

'Okay, don't put any money on it. I'll see if I can find an early gender test for us to go to, so at least we know for certain or the wondering will kill us both off,' Luke said, putting me down on the floor as we started walking back. I could see the closest person to us at the moment was a runner, about a kilometre down the path in bright lycra.

'Well, you haven't told your Dad yet,' I said and he shuddered.

'I don't want too, either.'

'You have to, Luke,' I mumbled. 'Eventually you will,'

'After what he's done to you? He doesn't deserve too.'

'He's still your Dad, you're lucky you have parents who care for you still around,' I mumbled, tearing up and looking away. Luke stopped me on the spot.

'Hey, come on Grace,' He said softly, gently touching my chin to make me look at him. His blonde hair was fluffy as always, unkempt but in a beautiful, model-like way and his eyes were still blue but had certain deepness to them which I could see clearly despite the tears pooling in my eyes. 'Your Mum and Dad would be so, _so_ proud of you and I know that because every time I met them, they would not stop talking about how incredible you are, and yeah, I see why they were saying that now, but I know they would be so proud of you, and Jack, and everything you've achieve from your degree, to moving out and in with incredible friends, to moving in with me, and to our little tadpole.' Luke said softly and I started crying. 'Oh, sweetheart,' Luke said, hugging me tight.

'You think?' I whispered to him through my tears and he kissed my forehead.

'I know they would be,' Luke said back to me.

'That means a lot, Luke, it really does,' I mumbled back and I meant it. Just hearing those words and having someone else say it to me really did mean everything to me. I missed my parents dearly and if I could go back in time and tell my parents how much they meant to me, I would do in a heartbeat. I suppose that's why I always let me friends and my extended family and Jack know how much they mean to me.

He held me like that for another five or so minutes until I stopped crying.

'You want to get a lift back or continue walking?' He said softly, his arm around my waist.

'Walk, we have all the time in the World,' I said and he kissed my temple.

'That we do,'

It took us another three hours to walk back, not my finest achievement as by the time we got back, it was dark. We ran into less people the later on it got and I had started to limp again but Luke was by my side, his arm around my waist holding me up. The guards, who realised we had snuck out, were already out looking for us and escorted us back for the last point three of a kilometre, through the gates and up. I got in the door, had taken off my shoes and my coat and went to take another step when my stupid leg gave in. I fell to the floor and Luke was beside me.

'Grace, you alright?' Luke asked urgently, giving me a hand to get up.

'Yeah, leg was weird,' I said.

'You have to be careful,' Luke said, holding me against him and kissing my forehead. 'You should have said your leg was hurting,' He mumbled, his lips against my temple as he bent down slightly.

'I thought it was fine,' I replied back gently.

Luke quickly swooped me up and held be against his chest, carrying me through the southern hallway, down the end then left and into a large room with plush sofas before lying me down on one. He knelt down beside me. 'Do you need painkillers?' He asked softly, his hands in my hair.

'I'll be alright,' I said. 'Think lying down was a bit dramatic,'

'Don't care, we're being safe this time around,' Luke said, touching my hair. 'I'm never letting you get injured again,' He mumbled, getting up and throwing a blanket across me as I had started to shake. Luke then sat in front of me, on his phone replying to all kinds of emails and texts and miscalls he had received in the five hours we were out walking as I happily curled up, nodding off.

I woke up at around midnight when there were voices in the room with me. I could hear Luke's hushed whispers clearly, and someone who sounded like Theo and occasionally, a sweep of Caroline's voice too. But there was someone else's voice who mixed with the other threes. Vick's?

I opened my eyes, and sure enough Theo and Luke sat on the same two seater armchair, Caroline was pacing behind him and Vick sat on one of the armchairs, in a white shirt and some jeans – the least formal I had seen him for a while. They continued to whisper to each other.

'What are you doing here?' I said to Vick and everyone stopped their conversation immediately and looked towards me and then to Luke to "sort me out". Luke came over, crouching down slightly to kiss me before giving me a hand to sit up. 'You were in America, what are you doing here?' I repeated towards Vick as Luke sat beside me, his arm around my waist in what I could assume would be a comforting gesture. I realised everyone had glum looks on their faces.

'How are you feeling?' Vick asked me softly.

'I'll feel better when you tell me why everyone is acting weird, and why you're over here,' I asked him and he raised an eyebrow. He wasn't used to anyone speaking back to him, but as one of his closest cousins I would willingly argue with him and have on several occasions but it still shocked him when I was so brass with him. But I remembered what Luke said, about trusting him. He looked scared but I don't think he knew the full limits of it. Now, he looked terrified.

'Grace,' Vick started slowly in a comforting tone, like a hunter would use to nurse a dying dear into their final moments of life. 'Callus' trial has been dropped,'


	31. Chapter 31

**Thirty One**

'Grace,' Vick started slowly in a comforting tone like a hunter would use to nurse a dying deer into their final moments of life. 'Callus' trial has been dropped,'

The silence was heavy in the room, settling over all of us like a lead weight. Everyone looked glum and I knew they had heard it before. Luke held me a bit tighter but he was furious. I frowned, looking at Vick like he was joking but there was certain sadness to him too, and I knew he wouldn't be joking. He wasn't that type of person. He also flew all the way from America to tell me this.

But how can a case like that be dropped? There was evidence tying him to the kidnapping. They had him arrested for goodness sake!

'What?' Was the only think I mumbled.

'Well, it's been dropped for now. He, and all the men they arrested with him apart from three, are on the run,' Vick explained and my mouth dropped and I teared up. 'We're gonna do all we can to keep you safe,'

'No, hang on, how?' I asked. 'Abduction is an indictable offence. They have evidence, it's within the public interest to prosecute someone like that – it would pass the Crown Prosecution Service's test of prosecution. You had dated for the trail _this morning_.' I told him.

'Vick, you might have to explain everything to her,' Caroline said softly, coming to sit on the other side of me, her hand on my lap, finding my limp hand and holding it tight.

'About three o'clock this morning, Callus' decided to apply for bail. Your criminal justice system has a presumption under the Bail Act 1976 that everyone will be granted bail unless there is a term they don't meet and bail doesn't cost a penny. Until this point, none of him or his evil minions wanted to bail and wanted to stay in custody until the trail in two weeks' time, and as you mention the crimes listed were indictable offences so he would be trailed via jury at either the Crown Court or the High Court due to the seriousness of the matter and those involved as, you know,' Vick gestured to the four of us, Theo sitting on the arm of the chair where Luke was, his arm around the back of the settee not so much sitting comfortably, but providing support in a brotherly-like casual manner.

'Still undecided on the Court, Callus and his men decided to apply for bail. The custody officer, who was inexperienced, held a meeting and we don't know what happened as they should have been denied bail, but we can only assume Callus' used his gift on the custody officer and those in the meeting as they were granted bail and left the prison where they were being held in custody at around half four o'clock this morning. At six, when the changeover in shift happened, the experienced office realised the mistake and immediately demanded they be found and hauled into custody but they have no idea where any of them are.' Vick said and my mouth dropped.

'What?' I whispered in shock as Luke hugged me tighter, Caroline squeezed my hand and Theo gently touched my shoulder. Luke's reaction was fine, but I knew Caroline viewed me now as a daughter of hers and Theo viewed me like his kid sister and they all gave me the support I needed. If they weren't there, I would have collapsed and broken down. The men who kidnapped me for three weeks were now on the run?

'They have suspended the trail until they are found, but,' Vick stopped the sentence and I knew he was suggesting that there was a chance they would never be found. I would have to live my entire life until they are found hidden away, constantly looking over my shoulder seeing if they had found me, if they had caught up or if they would go for round two.

'We have a specialist team looking for them now, that it's their only mission, and it's commissioned around the clock,' Theo told me.

'Intelligence predicts that they won't go back for you, though, Grace,' Vick told me and I looked back over to him. 'They know we would tighten security around you twenty-four seven, so it would be way too risky to even consider going after you again. But we know what these men are capable of, and how much of a security threat they are,' Vick explained and I nodded, still shocked. The room fell deadly silent as everyone let me take in what they said.

'Was the custody guard a Savant?' I mumbled after about seven minutes.

'Reports don't say so; he reported no use of extra-sensory perception either so I wouldn't have thought so,'

I closed my eyes and the second I did, there was a wave of memory hit me – like my brain really wanted to aid me when I needed help the most. It hurt, though, like a bitch, and I could hear distant voices from the room as I focused on incoming memory.

It felt fuzzy and loose and the image wasn't crisp.

I was in a grey-on-grey room, large space with grey mats on the floor. I sat leaning against a spare wall, a rack of weights to my right and an unlabelled, unmarked and unbranded clear water bottle to my side that I was sipping religiously. It was nearly empty. I was in tight fitting gym gear and covered in a layer of sweat giving me a grim shine. As I sat there, draining my bottle, a young man came over and sat next to me. Not close, but close enough that I could assume we were friends. He gave me another bottle of water. I recognised him now as Alec, the other boy they rescued at the got me out of wherever they found me. I was out of breath against the wall before bombarding him with questions, most about Callus.

'How long has he done this?' I mumbled.

'Kidnapped people against their will? Years, from what I can tell. Most of the security was kidnapped in their teens; Savant's are more susceptible then. They don't want control their parent's force on them, they realise how inevitable it is they'll never find their Soulfinder. They're slipping and don't know how to control it. They don't know how to work and use their gift for good, so they go bad instead. Petty theft, so on, Callus can see their potential, and they're taken identity wipes, and they start new.'

'How can you just wipe someone's identity?' I asked him.

'His gift is to steal other people's gifts. He met someone at the beginning who can alter and change memories, and stole the gift, so now he can just wipe people's life's and influence their behaviour and choices. But he can only use that gift on others who are Savant's or it's simply not effective. He's trying to find someone who was more powerful than the thirteen-year-old he stole that gift from,'

Alec wrinkled his nose and I gasped.

It brought me back to the world, where I was now leaning on Luke completely as Theo knelt in front of me, frowning, a tissue under my nose and Caroline was speaking to Luke.

'Grace?' Theo asked softly before Luke realised I was awake.

'Grace, you there? Are you okay?' Luke mumbled to me and I nodded.

'Callus – he can't use that gift on people who aren't Savants. I… remembered something from the time I was taken,' I said urgently to Vick and everyone did two lots of double takes, the first on realising I knew something about Callus that wasn't told to me and the second I was remembering stuff from when I was taken. Everyone looked at me in shock as Vick got out his phone and started to record. Luke gently took a new tissue to place under my bleeding nose as Theo got up and sad on the other settee.

'Grace, what was it you just said?' Vick asked.

'Callus can't use his memory wiping on people who aren't Savant's – I remember Alec telling me that, I don't know when he told me that?'

'Alec is the boy you were found with?' Vick asked me and I shrugged.

'I guess so, looks like a kid, blonde hair? He… he was wearing grey base layer football underlays core clothing?' Victor nodded as Luke frowned at me, putting his arm around my shoulder and my nose was still dribbling. 'We were in this large, grey place and I was on the floor sitting against the wall in a corner, I had a bottle of water that was nearly empty and I was in almost-like gym clothes and I was sweating. He came over, sat down with me and told me he knew Callus kidnapped people, mainly teenagers, as they were young and starting to rebel so it's easier to get them on his side. The took the gift for a thirteen-year-old, but he can't use it on people who aren't Savant's as the thirteen-year-olds gift wasn't strong enough.' I explained. 'How did I remember that?' I asked with tears in my eyes, looking over at Luke whose eyes were pooled watching me struggled. He blinked them back before kissing my forehead. 'How?' I redirected the question to Vick.

'Your brain wanted to aid you.' He said, shrugging.

'But if he can't use his gifts on someone who isn't a Savant, and the bail-man wasn't –'

'Someone else must have done it,' Vick caught onto my point.

The room was deadly silent as everyone started to process what we were suggesting. Someone else wanted to get Callus and his men out of prison – the same people who wanted me to screw over the Royal family – now my family too – and kill off Luke and Theo and Caroline. I curled up into Luke.

'But, who?' Caroline asked.

'I have no idea; I'll try and sort something out tonight. You can all go to bed, I know it's late and apologise for keeping you lot up so late. Grace, if you remember anything else no matter what time it is, call me and I will find you as soon as I can, okay?' Vick said to me and I got up and hugged him. He hesitated for a second before hugging back but I knew he wasn't a very physical-contact-allowing guy.

'Sorry,' I mumbled to him. 'I must be making your life hell,'

'Of course, you're not, but I always make a good candidate for Godparent,' He joked back and I pulled back.

'Not a chance,' I laughed and he smiled anyway. Luke frowned but didn't ask any questions as Theo and Caroline were talking to each other quietly.

'Worth a try, but congratulations. I did send something in the post as I didn't realise I would be coming over here so soon,' Vick said, his professional tone completely leaving when it was late at night and he was tired and jetlagged.

'Come on, let's get you up to bed,' Luke said to me softly as I nodded. Luke and Vick had a quick conversation overhead as Luke confirmed it was still okay for me to head to Jack's tomorrow night and for the school tour the day after, and Vick said as long as there is security near us, then it will be fine.

The walk up to Luke's place was deadly silent as he held my hand. The tone was heavy as rocks, though, and neither of us wanted to speak about what just happened. I knew Luke for some reason was pissed off and jealous – because of that Alec guy? Perhaps. I wasn't entirely sure but there was no conversation between us as Luke unlocked the door, greeting the security nightshift staff, and the second he was in the house, with me behind him, he bolted and locked the doors before walking straight past me and into the kitchen.

'What the _hell_ have I done?' I asked him.

'You've done nothing,' He said, getting a bottle of water from the fridge but he stood a few meters away from me, pissy. He may as well put his hands on his hips and weight on one leg it was that obvious. But I had seen that look before. I closed my eyes trying to remember where I had seen that placid "I'm-not-angry" look before. A few weeks after we met, before I fell ill with the cold or morning sickness, we were on about our ex's and as I "listed" mine off, he got annoyed that other people had "used" me – cheating on me or using me just for sex, and when I asked him if he was annoyed he said he wasn't and pulled that face.

'You're…. jealous?' I asked him and he sighed.

'Yeah,' He simply said.

'Why?'

'Alec,'

'You're jealous of the guy who helped save me from Callus,' I asked in shock.

'How do I know that you and him did nothing? That you weren't a thing?' He asked me and I stared at him like he suddenly put on a shark costume and was doing backflips which reading a book in German. Was he – insane?

'Because I was kidnapped!' I shouted back at him like he didn't notice that massive information.

'It should have been me keeping you safe, Grace, but I couldn't do that one single job and you probably got off with an eighteen-year-old kid!' Luke shouted back.

'I didn't do a thing,'

'Oh, and how do you know? You can't remember anything and suddenly as if by magic you remember you and blonde model sweaty in a gym together being buddy buddies.' He shouted, slamming his water down and running his hands through his hair.

'Are you saying I'm lying?' I asked him.

'No – well,' He paused.

'You think I'm lying!' I said tearing up.

'Well if you aren't lying, how do you know stuff that we never told you?'

'I don't know, Luke!'

He looked smug, turning away from me. 'Liars sicken me,' He said.

'I sicken you?'

'Oh, you are a liar? I should have known from the start. I've seen people like you before, compulsive liars,' Something in him clicked. 'Those who have to lie for attention. I wouldn't be surprised if you made the whole thing up to get a bit of attention,'

'Luke,' I whispered but he just came up in front of me, squared me up before spitting his words in my face.

'I hate you,'

I could feel myself crying as tears ran down my cheeks as I continued to look at like face-to-face. He was furious and I was broken. I simply unbolted the doors and ran out. Security looked at me like I was insane but I continued running, using the map I had built up of this place to try and find a place where Luke couldn't find me. Luke had never been rude, or compulsive like that before. He was never harsh, never irrationally angry and I've pushed him to those places. I've seen people push him to there. I've seen how harsh his father was to him and even that never sparked a reaction. But now, this was something else.

I ran around a corner and into someone.

'Grace?' Caroline asked, still in normal clothing and must have been dropping Vick off at him room before heading to her room for the night. 'You alright? Why were you running and crying? Where's Luke?'

I burst out in tears as Caroline hugged me, looking down the corridor behind me trying to clearly find Luke. I shook my head. 'Luke… hates me,'

'Don't be silly, Grace, come back to my room,' Caroline, gently leading me back up the hallway with her arm around my shoulders. She dug out a pack of tissues from her pocket and offered me one, and I took I to mop up my tears as she showed me to her room.

As we got in, my breath had calmed down and I had stopped crying but I was shaking.

'What happened, Grace?' Caroline asked me gently.

'Luke said he hated me, he said I was a compulsive liar and I sicken him,' I cried to her and she looked shocked.

'He did what?' She asked. 'He said he hates you?'

'I don't know what came over him,' I mumbled, hugging my jacket to myself.

'He was fine when we were together,' Caroline said, hugging me.

'I know, he got out the room and I thought he was jealous because of, Alec, so I asked him about it, and he said he was because he doesn't know that I did nothing with Alec when I was taken. He said I couldn't know for certain, that I'm a liar, that I made the entire kidnapping up for attention, that I sicken him and he hates me,' I started crying. Caroline hugged me again and she looked over my shoulder. I felt a hand on my back and I jumped, turning around.

Vick was behind me, still not changed, and he looked down at me with a certain look of sadness. Completely breaking his iron-like shield, he held out his arms and I hugged him tightly, crying. He held me tight, gently rocking me on the spot. He rubbed my back, whispering to me it was okay to cry, and we'll work it out in a minute.

Vick wasn't as manly as everyone assumed. They all saw this man, and ironman, who was rock hard and had an attitude on top of attitude and was a generic business-like arsehole. And to some people (read quite a lot of people) he was, however, I grew up learning to speak my own mind, with years being and LGBTQ+ councillor and being the weird kid in classes, and I had to make up for Jack's shyness as a kid too. So whenever Vick said something I disagreed with, I would argue it out with him. He respected me massively for that. We soon became very close cousins, with me keeping him in line and him helping me out at any possible opportunity.

He was one of the first cousins to come over after my parents died. Jack went over to Markie's, even though they had only known each other for a few months, and had dated for a small amount of that time, leaving me alone. Well, my sixth form friends were meant to come around, but all six of them bailed. Clearly, a friend in need isn't as fun as a tiki party at some girls house. So Vick came over unannounced as I was crying to myself in the lounge, he came into the room in a suit, threw his blazer on the settee as I got up, shocked to see him, and he hugged me and pulled me next to him on the settee as I cried for a good two hours. I remember it clearly – with help from my gift – as I calmed myself down, looking at his formal black socks as he continued to hug me tight. He told me we'll work it out when I calm down, and we did. He offered me to come and move over to America and live with him and we could transfer my university application to one in Denver near him. Or I could simply stay over here and go to Cambridge and we can take it one step at a time. It was Vick who persuaded me to stay at Cambridge though, who told me what a massive achievement a conditional offer was and how much my parents bragged to him about it.

I owed him a lot and probably a few new shirts as my mascara always stained his white crisp shirts. I forced myself to calm down, and Vick pulled me to his side, not letting go of me.

'Okay, Grace, I'm going to take you back to your room and we're going to see how Luke reacts. I know it wasn't him speaking, the same way it wasn't you attacking him. Potentially, it could be this other person we mentioned earlier,' Vick said to me softly. 'Stay by my side, if anything goes nasty, I'll get you out,'

'Let me know how it goes,' Caroline addressed to Vick.

'I'll pop back in on the way through, let you know what's happening,' Vick replied back.

'Thanks, Vick,' Caroline said sweetly to him and he simply bowed his head before leading me out the room.

'Don't think I said well done on picking up a Prince, Grace,' Vick said softly. 'Got a nice place,' He mocked.

'Shut up,' I whispered back, joking, but hiccupped in between.

'Seriously, though, some really weird shit is happening around here recently and I cannot help but assume it's something to do with you or an underlying grudge against our family. But I promise you that I will not let anything happen to you or the baby,' Vick said to me softly.

'What about Luke?'

'Depends on what he answers to my upcoming questions,' He said and I knew he wasn't joking. He could easily take on Luke and win. He sighed, knowing he sounded a bit too aggressive so changed to a lighter topic. 'Everyone will rip the shit out of me if you tell them this, but I cannot wait for baby cuddles,'

'You've gone soft since you got engaged,' I tutted under my breath and he grinned.

'Like I said, weird shit is happening,' He mocked himself and I shook his head, coming to a stop outside a door. Security stood there, frowning, wondering why I was back from my running cry but they didn't stop me going in, and not with Vick in tow either.

Vick smiled at me sadly for a moment before opening the door, reluctantly pulling me on. Luke looked up from where he was pacing on the carpet by the window the main reception room the door lead into and came straight over to me, hugging me tightly and spinning me around.

'Grace, where the Hell have you been?' He whispered to me, kissing my cheek as he put me down. Vick pushed me back slightly and squared up to Luke.

'What did you say you Grace?' Vick asked.

'What do you mean – I asked here where she's been?'

'Before that, Luke,'

'We were in the lounge together – she went to go to bed and we stayed to talk. I ended up back in here and she was nowhere to be seen,' Luke said, frowning at Victor before Vick looked over at me with confusion in his eyes. I bit my lip, tearing up, not entirely sure what I would have preferred. If Luke just snapped, at least I knew nothing sinister was going on. But he had no recollection of what he said to me whatsoever.

'Luke, you told Grace you hated her, that she makes you sick because she's a compulsive liar and lied about being kidnapped,' Vick said softly and Luke looked straight over to me like a puppy who had been shot.

'What?' He whispered. 'I wouldn't ever… when?' He asked back and he seemed genuinely hurt.

'About fifteen minutes ago. You came back here together, told Grace that you didn't believe her when she said nothing happened between herself and Alec and proceeded to go off on one. She ran out crying, bumped into Caroline – sorry, your mother – and she called me over to come and calm down Grace and sort out whatever is happening,'

'Why would I say that to her?' Luke whispered back to him.

'I don't know, and if you have no memory of what happened at all, something more sinister is happening,' Vick sighed.

/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\

Vick left after another hour sitting down with myself and Luke as he continued to grill both on us on what happened, recording it. The only thing he could assume was someone had planted something into Luke's mind at some point to flip off at me whenever I mentioned any memories I would be having about the kidnapping as a safety precaution. We decided to call it a night, both of us a bit hesitant of the other for the first time, we got changed in different rooms before gingerly heading into the same bed as each other.

'Grace?' Luke mumbled. We were on our sides of the bed, but facing away from each other.

'Mmm?'

'I really did hurt you, didn't I?' He asked and he sounded like he was crying.

I sighed. 'Yeah,' I mumbled, not too sure what to say. I couldn't lie to him; I couldn't pretend everything is perfect when it wasn't.

'I can't even remember flipping out; I would never call you those things. I trust you completely; I know you would never cheat on me, I know you didn't lie about the kidnapping, I know you always tell the truth and I love you to the moon and back,' Luke said. 'Why would I say those things?' He said, rolling over. I did the same so we were both lying facing each other.

'I don't know, Luke,' I sighed. 'It's the exact same as me lashing out whenever I saw you, though, wasn't it? It would be the same person doing it,'

Luke nodded. There was a moment of silence before Luke held out his arm, and I curled into him. He gently kissed the crown of my head. 'We can get through this together, can't we?' He asked me softly.

'Of course, we can,' I mumbled, unsure. We laid there together for a few more minutes, Luke hugging me tightly, his fingers gently running up and down my side as I laid there.

'Did you cry?' Luke whispered and I nodded and he sighed. 'A lot?' I sighed and Luke just remained quiet.

'I'm so sorry,' He mumbled to me.

'It wasn't you,' I repeated, trying to get the concept into my head. Luke had killed me, and now he was completely normal and I had to just pretend that was all… normal? Like he never hurt me emotionally? But he did the same for me – Hell, I physically attacked him, broke two of his ribs when I kicked him with an iron cast on, put him through a living Hell and he was s _till_ by my bedside when I finally came back around. I eventually forced my eyes closed and fell asleep, but I knew Luke was still awake beside me.

'Grace, wake up sweetheart,' I heard someone say besides me and I frowned against the sound, before rolling over. There was a beautiful sound of someone laughing and I knew it was Luke. 'Morning,' He said sweetly. 'Well, nearly afternoon,'

I opened my eyes and Luke was beside me, his hair light brown and still damp from his shower, his eyes a striking blue and had no top on and only some boxers. In his hand, he held a plate with some eggy bread on it, and in the other hand some orange juice. He leant forward, kissing me, before putting the drink on the side and pulling me up. I frowned at him.

'You didn't sleep, did you?' I asked him and he looked away from me.

'Nope, but I did read some more of that book,' He said positively like that would make me feel better. I gave him a slightly dirty look and he sighed. 'Vick wanted me to be up nine to interview me about what happened last night,'

'INTERVIEW?' I shouted.

'Only to see what I remembered from the night, he approached it from all kinds of angles but he seems relieved that there was no sign that it was me, that I didn't turn on you. But it does mean there is something sinister going on, and they're trying to work out how it got planted on me. Vick doesn't want too, if he can, call over your cousins again to have another look in my mind but he was on about calling over some kids that are family friends who might be able to help, or something, but there was nothing conclusive that came out of it,' Luke told me softly. I nodded as I took a bite of the breakfast in bed he made me. 'We can still go to Jack's tonight and the school tomorrow,'

'Will there be press?' I mumbled through a mouthful of food.

'With this being your first "official" tour, yeah most likely. Just be yourself, we can be there for however long you like. You might find out you like doing it and get involved and so on and we're there until late, or we can leave after the head teacher finishes rambling on. I've been there before, once, with Theo and it was fun,' Luke explained. 'We played a mean game of rugby. I tackled Theo. Turns out; he was on the same team as me,'

I remembered the photo and the article mocking the brothers as they had a clip from a tackle from Luke onto Theo, then Theo hitting his jokingly and both of them standing up laughing. I believe Luke was only about seventeen when it happened. I remember grinning as I watched it, but wandered if they were like that out of the public eye or if it was just for good publicity. Turns out, they were that calm and relaxed in their own homes.

'It won't be that bad. You can drive there if you want, you most likely know the area better than I do,' Luke said sweetly.

'What if everyone hates me?'

'Then tough tits, not their choice to make. It's mine,'

'And there will be loads of people around, watching my every move, scrutinising me if I start limping or I trip over or I say something to you a little too loud?' I asked and Luke bit his lip.

'Give me a minute,' He said, leaving the room, phone in his hand. I laid back in bed, grinning to myself. Luke brought me breakfast in bed? I suppose it was the guilt speaking to him massively. Especially as Vick interviewed him like a criminal – Vick must have told him what he said to me and my reaction or he wouldn't be acting this nice. I did feel incredibly bad, though, that I cried to Caroline about it. It seems a bit stupid crying to his mother about what he did like we were spoiled children.

But it was clear as anything Luke felt guilty and was trying to repair what damage he had done. I had forgiven him as it wasn't my Luke speaking but something else, another driving force, the exact same type that made me reject Luke for god knows how long after being kidnapped. However – when was the driving force, so to speak, planted? And what caused it to be activated?

I sat up right, realising what I thought about last night.

He was programmed to attack me every time I remembered something about the kidnapping. Whilst it was unlikely I would remember anything after the severity and depth Crystal had to clear my bond and Markie removed all the memories for good, it would be my gift that would pull it back. But if I used my gift, and remembered something, Luke would reject me. I only had one small memory, lasting no more than twenty seconds, and it caused Luke to flip off, telling me he hated me and I was a liar. What if I remembered a day's worth of memories? What would Luke do then?

My conclusion was simple; until we sorted out whatever was happening within Luke's brain, I wasn't allowed to use my gift.

Luke came back in. 'Called the school, they said they'll have one person with us at all times and our own press person – probably Alison,' Alison was the photographer Luke and Theo had grown up with, she was hired straight out of university as top her class when the boys were only kids. Luke was around ten, meaning Theo was in his early teens around the age of fourteen and since then Alison has been their go-to for press released when they wanted to keep something on the low down. Luke had used her infamously for his duties as he gets the upper hand as to what is released and what isn't released, so he would call on her once more to make sure nothing bad about me would get out. I had met Alison and immediately liked her. She was pretty in an unusual way – big soulful eyes and a wide face with a few freckles but small built. 'And they're going to keep the kids in certain classrooms at all times, so the kids who are good in science will be in science all day. We're free to roam as we please, and we can join in on whatever so it's probably best to bring some sports clothes or something – well, I don't think you're in a fit state to do rugby,' He tiled his head and I rolled my eyes. 'It'll be fine, though,'

But I knew it wouldn't be. Nothing would be that straight forward now.

/\\\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\\\

Hiya!

How are we liking this? It's a bit more fluffy at the moment but it will kick off for them again - nothing is plain sailing with these two!


	32. Chapter 32

We had left by half two the same day, our single bags in the boot of Ruby with myself as the designated driver. Luke and I didn't have to pack much; just some clothes to wear to bed that night as we couldn't exactly sleep naked, and some clothes for the tour tomorrow and under Luke's suggestion, some form of gym wear in case we ended up doing sport. No one expected us to drive out of the Palace in a Corsa, and we got out of the town easily without stopping us, and we headed down the country roads leading to the dual carriageway heading to Jack's house.

Luke sat next to me and it didn't even take me long to realise that he was still feeling guilty. Since getting in the car, he had barely spoken to me. Instead, he was on his phone constantly. Had he turned back to snap at mean?

'Luke?' I mumbled tentatively.

'You alright?' He looked up at me, fear in his eyes. I looked over at him for a fraction of a second and saw his eyes were wider than normal and had a look of fear in them.

'I was just making sure you weren't….' I mumbled and shook my head as Luke sighed. 'What were you reading?'

'The same book,' He said gently, locking his phone, 'I don't want you to think I'm a useless person and I have no idea what I'm doing, I don't want you to have to worry about me being useless,' He said softly and I grinned.

'I'm going to be the useless one,' I said, changing lanes on the carriage way.

'Nope, you have a maternal instinct. I can imagine you being extremely good with children,'

'Do I have to remind you about Theo-not-your-bother-but-Nick's-son?' I asked him.

'Grace, you settled he down. He loved you, you were incredible with him. Sure you didn't quite know how to hold him to start with but you got there,' Luke said softly. 'You just go with your gut instinct, we still have twenty-six weeks left, I'm sure I have some cousins or friends that have babies if you want to babysit for a day,'

'I'll see how it goes, it still doesn't feel real.' I said and it was true – there was no movement whatsoever and I wasn't showing and despite having the scan by my bed and Luke talking to me constantly about it, it still hadn't sunk in properly.

'It takes time, Grace, you have been through a hell of a lot and your body is catching up,' Luke told me softly. 'I know you don't remember it all, but your body is still trying to deal with the levels of stress, you'll get there one day. When she first kicks or something. You'll wake up in the middle of the night shitting yourself like I did, and it'll hit you.' Luke said and I nodded – I really did hope so. 'You'll get there, sweetheart,' Luke said softly. 'I've had a lot of time to process this, you haven't,'

'I've had a month,'

'Most people don't know they're pregnant for the first month,' Luke said. 'I can reference that if you need,' Luke said with a grin and I rolled my eyes.

'Have they got back to you – Surrey?' I asked him and he cleared his throat. I knew they had called him back and told him in a polite way his status didn't matter in relevance to the course and they would deal with his application like they would with any other transfer students under bad circumstances. Luke went for an interview eleven days ago, and I knew they said they'd get back to him within a week but he hasn't mentioned anything.

'They've accepted me,' Luke mumbled.

'That's great!' I said and he looked sad. 'Wait… isn't this what you want?'

'I'll be leaving you for three days a week for, like, six months, and then I have to study as well and it's a lot of pressure on you. And I've got to do shifts as a paramedic too,' Luke said, swallowing.

'Luke, I am a big girl, I can stay at home without you. I have to start working again soon, too, Kieran's been nagging me as he thinks this is linked to the cleaner thing,' I sighed, barely seeing the links apart from bad stuff was happening, but apparently, there was something there that needed to be investigated. Not only that, I would be the one driving Luke down to Surrey and back again so it wasn't a massive issue anyway.

'I just don't want you to think I'm being an asshole,'

'Of course, you're not being an asshole! You're pursuing your dreams, you're making me and your mum and most likely your brother proud too,' I told him, pulling off the dual-carriage way down into a roundabout roughly ten minutes from Jack's house. He sighed. I didn't want to be that person but I knew Luke was easily persuaded by any mention of our child. 'You'll be making our baby proud,' I said and he looked over at me grinning.

'You think?'

'Yeah, that's a cool job to have,'

'You think I should accept the place?' Luke asked me.

'Yeah, obviously,' I said wrinkling my nose. As I stopped at a red light, he leant over and kissed my cheek. He pulled back slightly, his hand on my lap and whilst he didn't sit back properly, he was still leaning forward slightly. 'You… alright?'

'It's just… I've never had someone to be so supportive,' Luke said, 'and for it to be someone who means the World to me, and I love to the moon and back, it is just incredible. We're not the best of couples, and this is and never has been easy sailing, and we have our issues, but I…'

'Stop, stop getting soppy in the car,' I said, but grinning. Hearing that after how he reacted yesterday made me a bit more… confident in him. He sat back properly as the light turned to amber and I got ready to go.

'So you say accept the place?' He repeated and I nodded. 'But then I'll start next week, Grace, even if I'll be there for two weeks until Christmas break starts,'

'I'm sure Kieran will love the news I'll be harassing him again from Monday,'

'And things like the scans will have to be rearranged,' Luke said.

'That's easy enough, you said you'll be off for two days and weekends, if not we can go when you don't have lectures or shifts. We can work it out, Luke, stop worrying about it,' I told him, heading down one of the roads that head to Jack's house. 'I've done the whole university thing, okay perhaps less intensive, but you will still have time to go down the pub and get pissed,'

'I don't wanna go down the pub, I want to spend time with you,' Luke mumbled.

'Then you'll still have time, it'll take you time to get back into the swing of it, but you'll be done by April or so,'

'You'll be seven months –'

'Luke, I know you're scared, stop trying to make excuses,' I sighed. 'It's normal to be scared, and you're gonna have to work your perky ass up as you've missed a semester but it's not impossible. I know you can do it and if you have trouble remembering stuff for an exam, that's where I can help even though that is technically… cheating,' I said and he laughed gently. 'It's okay to be scared, Luke, it doesn't matter who you are status wise, you're still human.'

'This is why you're incredible. You see things straight,' Luke said as I eventually pulled into a parking space at Jack's place. His neighbour was out in the front garden doing some gardening and watched as the car came to a stop. 'When is Jack and Markie due back?'

'Six-ish?' I said, taking the key out the car and getting out of the car. Luke did the exact same and I saw the neighbour's mouth drop as he watched both of us. I went to the boot but Luke beat me there, taking both of the bags with a look that spoke the words he was thinking – don't pick up heavy stuff. Annoyed, I rolled my eyes and slunk back down to the front door, locking the car via the remote whilst unlocking Jack's place.

As we went into the living room of their place, their cat looked up at us and jumped off the settee before coming up to Luke for a fuss as he put down the bags. After the cat rubbed against Luke for ages as I sat down on the settee, Luke picked up the fluff ball and hugged the cat as he purred contently before sitting next to me, with one arm around me and the other happily fussing the sleepy cat.

'You're not allowed to pick up heavy stuff – don't get annoyed with me, you know it's a thing,' Luke told me softly.

'It won't hurt me, Luke, you've read the books you know it's just –'

'Mainly about the pelvic floor, I know Grace, but it can also lead to premature flavour and birth weight, we cannot risk anything, especially as we don't know the impact of the kidnapping,' Luke mumbled to me. I leant against him.

'This sucks,' I sighed. 'And it's going to get worse, isn't it?'

'It'll get easier and harder at the same time,' Luke said. 'But I know you can do it. We can do it,' Luke mumbled. I sighed, glad someone believed in me whilst I was having these doubts. We hugged in silence for around five minutes before I telekinetically flicked the TV on, a daily gossip channel the default channel and – surprise surprise – guess who they were talking about?

'I believe that Miss Williams has had a positive influence on not only Prince Luke, but Prince Theo as well,' A lady with dodgy hair and an ill-fitting suit said to the panel of other ladies.

'Oh, here we go,' Luke said jokingly.

'Over the last two years since Grace has been involved with Luke, and look at what the Prince's have done – especially Luke. Luke has settled down massively, there are reports of him partaking in a university degree, his charity work has tripled and he is much more sociable.' The lady continued.

'We have to discuss the time after his tour, Marbella, and Prince Luke's isolation.'

'He was injured, anyone who has had an injury can understand it takes a lot of time to heal,' Another lady shot back, younger.

'Do these people have nothing better to debate?' Luke said, sighing.

'You should live tweet them back,' I joked. Luke grinned at me, pulling out his phone. I went to make some kind of witty comment but I stopped, frowning as I felt something in my abdomen. A mild pain, like the opposite of a cramp, across my lower abdomen. I leant forward, hand covering the very small bump I had – which only Luke and I had noticed when I didn't have a top on.

'What's up?' Luke asked, leaning forward and having a hand on my back.

'I… I don't know. I think the baby just moved?' I said and Luke grinned at me.

'Seriously?' He asked, his hand joining me.

'I think so, it felt really odd, like she was stretching inside me?' I asked Luke, looking him in the eye.

'I mean, it could be moving,' Luke said, grinning.

'I don't think I liked that, though, felt odd,'

Luke leant forward and kissed my cheek softly, hugging me to his side. 'I'm so proud of you Grace, I really don't say that enough,' He mumbled, pulling me on his lap slightly so my bum was in the gap between his legs in the way and my head against his shoulder. I smiled into his chest, trying to hide my blush. 'No, really, I am you. It hasn't been easy for you at all and you continue to be an inspiration and I'm on about going well back to when you were doing your GCSE and the work you did just to protect your brother as school, and then your a-level exams and what happened shortly after. But you still got up, you got changed each day, you smiled and you continued to be incredible,' Luke said gently to me. 'And even when you were practically forced to come to Buckingham, you were out of your comfort zone in a place you've never been before in a job you've never done with literally no idea why you were there, finding out all these hidden secrets of your family and you were still there smiling and then some more. Even after you got kidnapped, you were still trying to make sure all your family are okay. You're an incredible person, Grace, and I'm not just saying this because you're my beautiful girlfriend and future mother of my child but because I honestly idolise you so much. You're incredible, ' Luke said to me softly as I had to wipe away a tear.

'You have no idea how much that means, Luke,' I mumbled back to him with a tight throat and he smiled gently.

Eventually, I snuggled up to Luke and fell asleep as per the usual. Recently, I had found myself being tired near enough all the time and when I mentioned it to Caroline she explained it was probably the pregnancy starting to take hold – she explained she had three naps a day when she was pregnant with Theo and just to go with whatever my body was saying. Luke must have got the memo because he just let me sleep curled up into him.

I would have slept a bit longer if Jack and Markie didn't come home, the front door slamming closed making me jump awake.

'It's alright,' Luke mumbled to me as Jack came around the corner. He went to say something before noticing how we were sitting and frowned.

'Everything alright?' Jack asked, frowning at the odd circumstance he came home to see.

'Grace was asleep,' Luke said back and Jack nodded like that answered the question.

'You alright?' Jack directed the question to me and I nodded, rubbing my eyes. He smiled before kissing the top of my head. I heard Luke make a funny noise and Jack kissed the top of his head too as Markie laughed before they both went out into the kitchen to sort out their bags as we continued to sit in the lounge.

'Should we tell them about the baby,' Luke mumbled to me and I frowned.

'They already know, they walked in on the scan?' I mumbled back.

'No, you muppet, the gender,' He whispered back and I frowned, debating what to say.

'We don't know for definite yet,' I whispered back and Luke made a funny noise, indicating he knows more than he's let on. I sighed. 'Spill it, then,'

'Mum saw us with our baby when I graduate from university in October, and you were there in a little summer dress and you were carrying her on your hip and Jack and Theo were there too and we all had a picnic on the grass near a lake which I assume is near the place where the graduation ceremony takes place, and everyone was doting over her. Apparently, she's the spitting image of you.' Luke told me softly and I smiled.

'When did you find this out?' I asked.

'When Mum was lecturing me before we left today, I was waiting for the right time to tell you,' Luke said. 'So it's certain now, or as certain as it can get, but if you don't want to tell people just yet, or ever, then that's fine with me,'

'I kind of like the idea of no one apart from us, and Caroline, of course, knowing the gender so no one can buy her gendered stuff so we don't end up with a tonne of pink baby grows,' I said under my breath as Markie walked past us to jog upstairs, turning the shower on telekinetically as he went.

'Yeah, that sorts that then,' Luke said and I grinned. 'We just have to call her something gender neutral from now on in,'

'Nugget,' I joked and he gave me an odd look but we both promptly stopped and started to act normal as Jack came in.

That night seemed to go alright; I wasn't entirely sure when Luke, Jack and Markie had time to bond as such but I noticed how much my brother and his fiancé and Luke were extremely close now. We all ordered take out despite arguing earlier that day we were going to cook. Knowing that we had to all be up around six the next morning, and my stupidity to offer to drop off Jack and Markie at work at eight despite us having to be _literally down the road five minutes_ for a half nine start meant we would be rocking up to the catholic private school was too early. But, we called it a night around half nine, edging on ten o'clock by the time Luke had figured out how the futon pulled out and made it too. As he fell asleep, I nervously researched the place on my own.

I had attended the sixth form near the private school, but never even considered looking around it or researching into it. Sure, I had gone past it once a day thanks to a one-way system and I had every morning seen the winding pathway from the entrance of the place past an old building with peeling paint but I had no idea what was beyond. I quickly viewed the website, amazed at how such a spectacular old-fashioned building remained hidden from me. It looked like a large, Victorian wedding venue, with brick arches and roaming the land, beams across the majority of the exterior and walkways of glass with potted plants on the inside. Inside was even more incredible with winding grand staircases, the interior looking a cross between Hogwarts and St. Trinians. It looked stunning but I knew how much parents paid to get their children in for a _term_ and I didn't expect anything else.

I checked the subjects they did and saw a few I was familiar with; psychology which I've got my degree in so I knew if I was out of my depth and wanted to embarrass Luke I would ask to go to one of those lessons. There was a large dance studio which I was comfortable with, having done dance and drama since I was a kid, and it looked well equipped. There were also sports – and they seemed very keen on their sports. I knew Luke had been there before with Theo about four years ago and that's where the rugby picture came from.

I ended up feeling confident about doing this and terrified at the same time. It was crystal clear it was a very posh school and I knew Luke would be able to blend into the environment in seconds. He had been private schooled, and he had etiquette drilled into him from birth. Despite him rebelling in all senses, he still had an articulated tone and he pronounced every word properly and emphasises the letters in them, whilst I just spoke like a commoner. But I knew Luke had gone out of his way to make sure to make me feel comfortable tomorrow.

Caroline had been right; since the kidnapping, the media was extremely hungry to get gossip on us two. I suppose it would come with his status and I had accepted it. And as Caroline phrases it a few days ago when she called me up to talk to me about it, whatever we want to do on the day is completely in our hands. The school didn't have many pupils, around 600 across seven years with the classes only having about fifteen in each. We didn't have to stay long either – I knew there was an assembly at twelve we had to attend and Luke had to do some kind of speech but after that, we didn't have to do anything and could just leave. And with me doing this early on in the pregnancy, it meant that they could release photos showing I was okay and alive and still functioning after the kidnapping but without any obvious baby bump through shirts which would cause a shit storm. Caroline was already working on how to announce the pregnancy via the Palace rather than getting Luke to do it himself and has suggested for me to tell them whenever I'm ready which, if I had my way, wouldn't be ever. Luke had told me around twenty-two weeks was a good time, as it gave enough time for us to tell all of our family and extended friends and have time to come to terms with it ourselves. I worked out the announcement would be in the first week of February, falling on the twenty-second week. I nodded to myself – I could do that. That gave me time to prepare. None of my friends knew about the pregnancy. Only my cousins did. But that gave me the Christmas period to tell everyone and the entirety of January.

Luke's phone rang and he gently woke up, rolling over and checking his phone moaning slightly. He picked up the phone, frowned, before getting out of bed and walking over to the front door which remained unlocked. He answered it before going outside. It was something to do with the press, guaranteed. It was stupidly early in the morning and that was the only explanation.

I realised I must have fallen asleep at some point as it had turned three in the morning. I edged myself up onto the futon and about twenty minutes later, Luke came back into the room.

'Did I wake you?' He asked me gently and I shrugged.

'I think I was already awake, who was it?' I whispered gently.

'My dad,' He whispered, getting back into bed. I frowned at him.

Caroline, Theo and Luke all had deteriorating relationships with Edward and Caroline had once told me a few weeks ago that the potential for divorce was on the table. He had become manipulative and has yet to speak to me properly. I felt like it was my fault; everything seemed fine until I rocked up. Luke and Theo assured me that wasn't the case and they had been dealing with heavy loads of shit that Edward had dumped on them for years. I was more of a catalyst. Luke wouldn't let me get hurt, and Theo was on Luke's side as the controlling side of their father was stretching over Theo. Caroline stuck up for her two sons and since then, Edward had been abroad on royal duties barely seen.

'What did he want?' I asked as Luke got back under the covers and held out his arm for me to snuggle in. Knowing Luke was upset, I did. He hugged me tightly.

'Just asked me if we had broken up or I had realised how evil you are,' He mumbled and I frowned at him. 'I didn't even bother telling him about our nugget,' Luke joked hollowly.

'I am so sorry, Luke,' I whispered but he shrugged.

'I know it's the last straw, though, the second I tell Mum she'll want to get the divorce rolling and I don't think I can be the person who does that,' Luke mumbled.

'But Luke, your Dad is a massive arsehole, you don't deserve that. Nor does Theo, or your Mum. Caroline doesn't deserve to be in a relationship that toxic. You haven't seen him in, what, eight or nine weeks now? I know it sucks, but once he's out of your life the better,' I mumbled and he nodded.

'I know… it just sucks,' Luke said. 'I'm torn between wanting him to stay so nothing changes, but wanting him out of my life before our baby comes. But I don't want to be the person to deprive their daughter of grandparents.' He mumbled. 'As a kid, Theo and I were always asking to meet our grandparents of Dad's side and he used to deny us, but I can't even trust Dad alone with you, how could I ever be completely calm when our baby comes and he wants to meet her?' Luke mumbled.

'Sweetheart, you're thinking way too much into this. If you don't want your Dad in your life after the divorce that is your call, and your call alone. It is tough, yeah, but you don't really like him anyway and if you don't feel comfortable leaving our daughter with him, then stay with him. We can figure something out,' I told him. 'But at the end of the day, it's Caroline's choice to decide if she does want a divorce, but it's completely your choice if you still want Edward to be there as a father figure to you or not, and it's our daughters choice if she does want to see Edward in a grandfatherly like way.' I whispered and he nodded.

'I know, thanks, Gracie,' Luke mumbled, kissing me softly.

'I know it's shit, but I'm not leaving you through it,' I mumbled. 'Hang on, need to pee now,' I laughed, gently getting up as my phone started to ring. I looked over at Luke as he sat up again and I checked my phone; the caller number was "Unknown,". Quickly thinking, Luke pulled out his phone and recorded what was happening, gesturing for me to pick up. I took a deep breath, panicking, as I slid to answer the phone.

It was silent to start with.

'Hello?' I said tentatively as Luke came over and hugged me, recording the conversation at all times.

'Hello, Grace, I don't suppose you remember me,' I heard a voice say and my gut dropped. It was the guy who kidnapped me. It was Callus. How did he get my number? I looked over at Luke and he realised the same thing. 'But, I just thought I would drop it to let you know that this, between myself and you, this isn't over. You won't see me coming, nor will any amount of security, but we're not done yet, round three is yet to come,'

Callus hung up the phone and I closed my eyes, dropping my phone and curling up into a ball, bawling my eyes out. This will never be over. I will constantly be hunted for the rest of my life by the man who kidnapped me.

It took about an hour for Luke to calm me down, and by this point we had managed to wake Jack up who came downstairs to see what was happening assuming the cat was harassing us but to see me breaking down. Luke very quietly explained what happened and asked him to call Vick who was still in Windsor to see what to do. I finally calmed down, a wreck on Luke's lap as he held me close, gently rocking me. Jack was next to him, his hand on my leg, both of them teaming up to try and calm me down. I just ended up shaking in his arms.

'Grace, I won't let anything hurt you, I promise,' Luke whispered to me.

How could he promise that? He had no way of stopping them.

'Vick said he'll come down later after you're back from the school, but he thinks it was a hollow threat. He's asked you not to use your phone and to keep it charging so he can look into it later – see if they can track the IP address of something,'

'He's smarter than that. I disappeared off the face of the Earth for three weeks – he would be smart enough to use a burner SIM,' I mumbled and both of them knew it was true.

The silence was heavy in the room as I had to face the reality of what was happening. What did Callus mean by round three? He only kidnapped me once? Is my presence around the Royal family and my relationship with Luke just going to hurt them? Will we ever be safe? Will our baby ever be safe?

I couldn't guarantee the safety of anyone I loved anymore – so was it time for me to go?


	33. Chapter 33

**Thirty Three**

Luke got ready in the living room with me after a shower but he wasn't speaking to me. I forgot he can read people's minds and of course when I was upset he was constantly tuning into my mind to find the best way to calm me down or to help me pick out words when I was unable to speak. It would only make sense for him to do that. But it meant he heard my thoughts about trying to leave to keep them safe. I was thinking about packing my bag in the night and staying with Mycelia for a few nights before working out something but I knew I was a risk to Luke – an unnecessary threat. I knew I loved Luke to pieces and I couldn't imagine a life without him but I couldn't be the reason for him to get hurt.

He didn't tell me immediately he knew what I was thinking but waited until we had an hour until we had to start to get ready, when we were lying in bed, with myself curled up into him when he asked me why I thought it was a good idea to leave. He started off calm and relaxed, gently asking me before he got really pissed off, telling me that it was a stupid plan and I needed to think about what I was proposing before I made any plans. Now, he was just ignoring me.

'Luke,' I sighed, starting to get really upset.

'Grace, you wanted to leave me – how was I meant to react?' He sighed.

'I didn't mean leave you like that. You know I love you. I just don't want to be the person to hurt you,'

'Leaving me would be hurting me,' Luke said angrily to me. 'What would I do without you? Without our baby, Grace? You admitted you can't do it alone, so why have you changed your mind?'

'Because Luke, I am getting you hurt, how am I meant to deal with this? Be okay with that?' I whispered to him as Jack came downstairs and went into the kitchen.

'Perhaps this is what Callus wants us to do? Break us up?' Luke said and I shrugged – I guess. Luke looked over at me. 'You do still want to be with me, right?' He asked tentatively, coming over to me and standing in front of me, looking down with pooled eyes.

'You know I do, Luke, you know how much I love you,' I whispered. 'I'm just terrified,' I confessed to him and he gently hugged me.

'I'm sorry I had a go at you,' He sighed. 'But please, please don't leave me Grace. We can work it out, keep each other safe, but we have to stick together,' He begged gently playing with my hair. 'Please, sweetheart,'

'I won't, Luke,' I whispered.

'Promise?' He mumbled gently. 'Promise me you'll never leave me,'

'I promise.' I said definitely. 'But, the threat,' I sighed – the moment we seemed to have a temporary truce, I brought back the chisel and hammer.

'Grace, welcome to my life. I am constantly under threat – it comes with my family tree. I was under threat before you rocked up at Buckingham. We're not the most loved family ever, believe it or not, and we've dealt with all kinds of threats which have never reached the media. It's what our family does best – keep each other safe. Just… trust me,' Luke mumbled. 'I promise to keep you safe, and keep our daughter safe too when she makes an appearance in June, and I know Theo and Mum will do everything they can to keep you two face as well,'

'This is shit,' I sighed.

'I know, welcome to the family I guess,' Luke gently said. We continued to hug for another minute or so and I silently vowed to never leave his side. He talked me out of being convinced this was my fault, and in a way he wouldn't have gone through the pain of my kidnapping if he didn't know me – that much he cannot argue – I didn't want to leave him. I love him to pieces and I couldn't imagine what day to day life would be without Luke beside me every second. We share the same bed, get changed in the same room, and just do day-to-day activities together. The only time we were really separated was when he went out to get food or do something Royal but according to him that was about to change – the first step of change was this school tour.

'You still alright to drop us off and pick us up?' Markie said coming in.

'Yeah, when do you finish?' I asked him, still hugging Luke. Markie smiled at us two of us.

'We finish at half five, you can come back here during the day if you don't want to hang around there,' Markie said, leaning on the door.

'We can do that,' Luke said, nodding and agree before I had even though about it. 'When do you wanna leave?'

'In about twenty minutes?' Jack said, kissing Markie's cheek as he passed before pulling a face as he saw Luke and myself hugging. I was already changed in something mildly formal for me; a pair of black skinny jeans, a grey baggy shirt that hid the small bump I had developed well and a small flowery kimono over the top. Luke, however, was just in a pair of jeans and a top like it was any other day – which for him, it was. He had packed my black-and-white polka dot rucksack with gym clothes just in case.

'Better get a move on, then,' Luke said, finally letting go of me.

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\

We had dropped Jack and Mark off to the hospital where they both work for just before eight o'clock, doing a U-turn in the shoddy car park facilities before heading onto the major A-road heading towards the private catholic school.

'You might want to call them up and explain that we will be early, like, an hour and a half early,' I said, checking the clock on Ruby – 8:02 am.

'Yeah, good point,' Luke laughed gently. 'I don't think Alison is even gonna be here this early,' Alison had arranged to get to the school for the same time as us but was being driven down here by one of the Palace's private drivers. Luke pulled out his phone and dialled the school reception, putting it on speakerphone. The receptionist picked up on the third ring.

'Hello and welcome to Farnborough Gardens Catholic School, how may I help you?' She replied quirkily.

'Hiya, it's Luke and Grace, I believe you should, hopefully, be expecting us today?' Luke said charmingly. The receptionist made a slightly audible gasp before going silent. 'Hello?' Luke laughed.

'Prince Luke, correct?' The receptionist asked.

'Yeah,'

'Well, of course, your Royal Highness, how can I help you?'

'Er, just letting you know that we might be early – Grace, any idea how early?'

'Well It's just down this road, take a left and about five minutes up the road but there is a bit of traffic so about twenty minutes maximum I would assume,' I said gently.

'About twenty minutes from now,' Luke said.

'Oh, right, okay, well, I'll get your passes and everything sorted for then,' The receptionist said flustered and we could hear her buzzing for someone to come in and help her.

'See you in a bit, bye,' Luke hung up the phone. 'We've fucked with her plans,' Luke said, chuckling to himself. I smiled slightly but it was incredibly nervous and Luke sensed up on this, gently touching my knee. 'Everyone will love you, alright? If you don't feel comfortable, I won't make you do this ever again,'

'Mm,' I said as I pulled off the main road, heading onto the smaller roads towards the school.

'I promise you,' He whispered to me gently, his head lulling on the seat as he looked at me with a gentle look in his eyes. I changed lane but didn't reply to Luke. 'Grace,' He sighed. 'Just… be yourself, I fell in love with you after one shy conversation with you, and I'm hard to impress, I believe you can do this, you don't have to say anything if you don't want too, just be yourself,'

'I'm scared, Luke, I'm really scared. This is so normal for you; you have grown up doing this. You have been doing this since you were six months old, you are completely used to media and everyone looking at you like you are some higher figure than them. I'm not,' I said, turning onto the mile-long road heading past the school before leading down to the entrance on the far side.

'Grace, I'll do all the speaking and introductions and everything, just follows my move, alright?' he said as I slowed down to let a waiting 66-plate BMW, which must have cost a fortune, in as he waited in the right-turn lane. I flashed him before indicating and he pulled off in front of me and into the entrance to the school, thanking me as he went but I saw his mouth drop as he noticed who was in the seat next to me. It gave me a bit of hope – of course, everyone would be focusing on Luke especially in a school.

Luke and Theo were both extremely good looking, articulated, built like Gods and were gentle and kind and had a degree of status and power. It ticked off all kinds of boxes. I had nothing in comparison. I was simply a girl-next-door kind of person who might crop up in conversation once in a while as an "Oh, remember that Grace who was in our class?" kind of way. So, of course, they would focus on the Prince rather than his side-kick. I saw some school girls who much have been around fifteen years old look in the car, pointing and nudging each other as I turned into the school and down the single raised paved track through the scenic ground, with trees either side and a running track and tennis courts in the distance. We passed a handful of students who did nothing more than glance at the car before I found a small car park, and parked in a bay that displayed "visitor parking". Unfortunately, it was also a hangout place before school.

'I thought you said it was a twenty-minute drive, Williams,' He joked to me as I turned off the engine. Before I could hesitate he jumped out the car, taking the backpack with him and flung it over his shoulder before coming to open the door around my side of the car before I decided to drive off, leaving him here alone. I got out awkwardly, with Luke closing the door behind me as I locked the car.

Before I said anything, almost by instinct now, I scanned the area. There were about eight groups of students; a large group of girls a few feet away from the car, two of which had their phones out recording us or taking photos, a group of boys who were just staring and talking, and some others that clocked us and kept looking over but weren't doing anything about us.

'That was not a twenty-minute drive,' Luke said, putting his sunglasses on.

'In rush hour it can be,' I told him back and he grinned at me.

'It was literally, like, five minutes,'

'You don't drive in rush hour that much, you don't know,' I mocked him back as he walked in front of me, before leaning on the bonnet. I gingerly joined him a few inches away and he put his arm around my waist, pulling me in so our sides were touching. 'Why have you got sunglasses on in December – you look like an idiot,' I asked him and I heard some of the people around us snigger.

'Because it's sunny,' He joked, taking them off before winking at me.

We waited outside for around fifteen minutes before some students must have told someone as a hoard of teachers came over with lanyards and so on. Luke, recognising who they were before me or perhaps just sensing the urgent tone – or reading the minds of them – stood up from the car.

The cohort of people stopped a few feet away and all of them bowed and curtsied in sync and you could tell they had rehearsed it. I frowned slightly, looking at Luke for help but he gave the group of eight, including a professional photographer at the back, one of his award-winning smiles that made their hearts melt. Including mine. I stood up straight, straightening my back and moved forward as one of the ladies in a smart suit, fresh haircut and manicure and reeking of perfume came forward.

'It's a pleasure to meet you, your royal highness,' The woman said, shaking Luke's hand clearly unsure for words. 'I am Trisha McCarthy; I am the headmistress here,' She said, bowing her head once more before introducing everyone else; 'This is Abbie Powell, the deputy headmistress, Keith who is head of pupil support, then you have Trudy, Annabelle and Olivia, the head of the three houses here, and Johnathon who will have photos for our website. We will, under request, run these through your media advisor before we release them,' Trisha told us professionally and Luke nodded.

'Thank you, I guess you know who I am,' Luke said charmingly, and everyone laughed. 'And this is my girlfriend, Grace,' He said, pulling me forward slightly as I smiled shyly and everyone mumbled their hellos to me. 'She's, er, she's a bit shy after everything that's happened to her recently,' Luke explained for me, knowing if he mentioned the kidnapping they can't probe into it and would feel guilty mentioning it, therefore will leave me alone. I smiled at him gently and he nodded ever so slightly, knowing I had worked it out.

'Please, do come inside,' Trisha said as the photographer continues to snap photos.

/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\

We sat in the head teachers office until half nine, the time we were originally meant to arrive. I could tell we had massively thrown them off our plans by arriving so early, but Trisha made a good job of hiding it. She made us some tea and explained the history of the school, the achievement and awards of the school and all the different trophies and photos on the wall, some of the students winning international awards and so on. The office was on the third floor of the main block, and I sat happily in my chair with my mug in my hand looking out the window and I noticed students heading towards their tutor rooms when school started casually, not expected us to be there. No one gave me a second glance, not registering my face even though I was on the front of papers six weeks ago.

There must have been an email sent around after, as the students now walked with more purpose and were behaving now, walking in lines to different areas of the schools like they must have rehearsed. However, a few students caught me staring as I sipped at my drink. I turned back around as she mentioned something about a student competition three or four years ago about cross country running.

'Our golden pupils came second during the summer cross country trials, but it was an awful day for running – the temperature was in the high thirties.'

'What team did you lose against?' I asked, knowing it was in the summer three and bit years ago and I knew exactly who the team lost against. Luke looked over and frowned at me, wondering why now I had chosen to speak. Trisha did not look happy. 'You got a photo of the medal ceremony anywhere?' I asked and Trisha clearly seeing me as some kind of road-tripper, clinging onto Luke, rather than his girlfriend checked the wall and took down an A3 poster from the bottom corner of the wall and handed it to me.

I grinned as I moved next to Luke.

 _What are you playing at?_ Luke asked me jokingly; amused I had finally found my voice to call out Trisha. I simply pointed at the team on top of the first place. The teams were made out of six pupils, and I could easily find myself in the signature white polo shirts with the sown-on logo of the school in the middle my arms around the girls either side of me grinning at the camera.

'Wait, is that you?' Luke asked, leaning forward.

'Yup,' I said and Trisha huffed – literally huffed – at the awkward situation.

'Holy crap, Grace,' Luke laughed, handing the photo back to Trisha as she put it back. As she turned her back, Luke pulled a face and I grinned, trying to hide it as he gestured to Trisha's turned back and he rolled his eyes. I gently nodded to the door and he put his hand on my knee, index finger out gesturing for me to give him a second.

'It's a good school you have here,' Luke said.

'Very much so, we are all proud to work here,' She said so fake it hurt my teeth but I managed to smile back. 'So, I believe you have already arranged what you would like to do for the day?'

'Yeah, no need to show us around or anything, we'll figure it all out. You mentioned via email students all have set rooms they will be in today and we are welcome to go in and out as we please until an assembly at… half twelve, was it?' As he said that, Alison came in gingerly and mouthed an apology to Luke who just smiled at her. I stood up and hugged her, so glad to see a familiar friendly face.

'Are you holding up okay?' Alison whispered to me gently, her camera bag off her shoulder and guest lanyard over her neck. Alison was lovely and we had started to text a bit more – we were friends in the Palace when I just started there and she was one of the only people who worked there who was happy for me when Luke announced we were together. I saw her as a close friend I could rely on in this situation.

'Er, getting there,' I whispered back before we pulled apart and she sat next to me.

'Yes, the assembly is at half twelve, so we would ask you to come back to the office for twelve so you don't get caught up in the student's lunch break.'

'Alright, so we'll just head off and do our thing with Alison, we can send you the approved photos so you can release them when they're all done.' Luke said, standing up before holding out his hand to me. Trisha looked incredibly pissed that she didn't get to spend time with Luke or still with me after the whole running incident, but I took Luke's hand and we walked out the room, waiting for Alison to join us. She closed the door behind us before hugging Luke.

'Jesus, she seemed pissed off,' Alison mumbled to us as we headed to the staircase.

'Grace completely put her in her place, it was incredible,' Luke joked.

'Oh god, what did you do?' Alison asked me laughing gently.

'She simply said her cross country team came second a few months ago because it was warm, and I asked her for the podium photo and showed Luke that I was in the team that came first. She didn't like that,' I gently chucked as did Alison.

'Good, you go, girl,' Alison said and it gave me a bit of confidence. 'So, what kind of stuff you want me to shoot today?' The question was directed at me and I shrugged. Luke looked over and saw me confused wondering what Alison meant and he took over for me.

'Anything that shows Grace being a good person. The focus is entirely on her, and I know that doesn't narrow it down as she looks incredible sneezing but you know what I'm on about.' Luke said and Alison nodded, clearly knowing what these photos would be doing whilst I had no idea. 'Where'd you want to go, then, you get to decide where we go,' We walked down a long corridor with windows on each side and we could see despite the students being told not to look, they were looking.

'Er, anywhere, I guess,' I said and he gently kissed me. 'Anywhere where I would fit in,' I mumbled and I knew I was out of my depth.

'Alright, I won't take you to a psychology class until later, though, can't have you embarrassing me just yet,' Luke said and I smiled gently. 'I have an idea. You trust me, right?' Luke asked me and I nodded.

'Let's go then,' He said, sprinting down the hallway. I rolled my eyes, before sprinting after him. Alison laughed, clearly taking a few good photos of us two mucking around. Luke ran down the corridor, jumped over a bannister separating the raised corridor and the main area, and down a small two-foot drop but waited to make sure I cleared it which I did with ease. We laughed for a moment, waiting for Alison to keep up.

'You two kids go ahead,' Alison mocked, holding her camera up as she stood leaning on the wooden bannister, 'Where you heading, Luke, so I can catch up?'

'Er, Da14,' He said and Alison nodded, knowing what room he was referring to whilst I just frowned. I turned back to look at him and he grinned, before running off again. I shook my head before running after him across the concrete floor, down another corridor, then out onto a long gravel pathway leading to a slightly modern building. Along one side there were long glass windows and I could see students in gym wear, turning to see what was happening before people were gawping as I ran after Luke. Focused more on the people than my stupid boyfriend, he stopped suddenly and I skidded to a stop skilfully as he laughed, hugging me.

'Are we trying to break all of Trisha's rules as early as we can?' I asked Luke, slightly out of breath but amazed my leg didn't hurt. So – it had to be slightly psychosomatic, a topic I knew well thanks to my dissertation being on that subject. Slowly, we walked into the modern block which was a white-wash building with white walls and black floors, with large doors coming off to the left and right. Luke, knowing where he was going, headed down to the second set of doors, labelled Da14 and opened the door.

We both walked in, Luke dropping the rucksack he had on as I hesitated in the doorway.

We appeared to be in a dance studio and I smiled, knowing dance was something I had done from birth to eighteen, doing it as a module in my performing arts course and getting top grades in it. I also knew Luke hated it with a passion but he was doing it for me.

The room, though, was beautiful. On the left side, a wall made entirely out of glass but looked the other way from where we came. In front, a long wall made of mirrors and on the right a white wall with photos from previous competitions. To each side, some lockers with bags in. There were about twelve students, all girls from around fourteen to sixteen in gym wear and trainers. They must have been doing a warm up and were all now stopped mid-stretch to turn around to see who walked in. All of them looked shocked to see us and I could only assume that they all thought that, of all the classes, the "Royal visitors" wouldn't come into a dance class.

'Mind if we join in?' Luke said chirpily to the teacher who looked just as shell shocked.

'Er, yeah, yeah go ahead,' She said softly and I could tell she was a student teacher, placed with the students who had no hope of being seen today, out the way at the back of a block far away from the school.

'Cool, Grace grabs your clothes,' Luke said, ruffling through the rucksack and chucking me my gym shirt and leggings, and I caught them off reflex. He grabbed his clothes. 'Give us a moment,' He said sweetly, leaving the room as I followed. As the door closed and we walked away, we heard a few of the girls scream in the room we came out and Luke laughed gently.

'You… you're gonna do the dance?' I asked him shocked.

'Well, you're going to need a partner, and I'm sure you can lend me some of your gifts so I can at least pretend to know how to dance.' Luke mumbled as we found a spare changing room against the wall where the main door came in. We both went into the same one as we stripped down to our underwear and got changed.

'Oh my god, I love you so much,' I said, wrapping my arms around my neck as he spun me around, gently bending down and kissing me slightly.

'Like I said, today is your time to shine, not mine,' He said sweetly and I knew he was still being incredibly nice to me because of what happened to us last night, and the night previous as well. It had been enough to shake both of us up and engrave us both with fear. We both swiftly got changed, leaving the changing room as Alison was a few feet in front of us. She turned around when she heard the door opening and frowned at us as we both came out wearing new clothing.

'I won't ask why you two shared a changing room,' Alison said to us gently.

'We didn't do anything,' Luke whispered back and Alison smiled to him fondly. She had watched him grow up from a boy to the huge, built man he was now. 'Much,' Luke whispered back, hugging me to his side as he carried our normal clothes under his arm. We walked back into the dance studio and the teacher must have had words with the pupils as they were already back into rows of six, and she was at the front, all of them facing the mirrors. Luke put down the clothes in the corner and I awkwardly stood next to him.

'Hiya, all, I'm Alison and I'm the professional photographer who is accompanying His Royal Highness and Miss Williams today,' Alison said professionally to all the of the girls in the room who looked at her in the mirror as she was talking. I saw Luke cringe as someone he was close to used his full title but he didn't say anything. 'I know you all have filled out consent forms in order for your photos to be used today, but if you change your mind, now would be the time to leave. The photos will only be distributed to the school for use, and the media – if interested - when published. Just try and ignore I'm here,' Alison said sweetly before heading down to the front of the class and sitting down. 'I'll try not to get in the way,'

'Sorry, just carry on like normal,' Luke told the teacher and she nodded nervously. She walked to the back of the classroom, turning off the general lights in the room and turning on the stage lighting, which gave the room a warm white glow. I frowned as she passed, staring at the lanyard around her neck.

 _What's her name?_ Luke asked me gently.

 _Ellie Weeks._ I replied as I stood at the back, in line with one of the other girls in front of me. Luke looked confused and I gestured for him to stand beside me before pushing him slightly in line a bit more. I closed my eyes for a moment and extended the bubble of my gift to include Luke, which felt like a natural extension to me rather than the ache when I did it with someone else. He gently smiled at me as I looked back at him. We knew we were getting stared at in the mirror as the music started up doing stretches, but with Luke beside me, I didn't care. I wasn't here because of publicity, or to prove I'm worth something, I'm here because Luke wanted me to be here. Both of us were going through shit and we had to be supportive of one another and if Luke wanted me to be by his side, then, of course, I would.

/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\

We were in the dance studio for nearly two hours learning a partner dance to James Arthurs "Say You Won't Let Go". I had experience in dance and picked it up quickly but Luke took a bit longer to master the moves but with occasionally prods from my gift, he got there quickly. Alison was absolutely loving it, too, taking photos of us both. It came to performance time, and all the pairs of girls performed the same dance perfectly as we sat in front of the mirror, our sides touching. We thought the lesson came to an end as Alison completely dibbed us in it.

'I think there is one more pair to go?' She asked, volunteering to photograph the other pairs as well and the girls giving her their emails so she could send the photos. Everyone looked over to us, starting to cheer us on. Both of us grinned awkwardly at each other but didn't get up.

'Luke, Grace, get up, it's not fair if you don't go,' Alison ordered, pointing to the floor in front of her as people continued to laugh and jeer. I looked over at Luke.

 _Should we do it?_ Luke said.

 _I'm alright doing it if you are willing to let go of your macho image._

 _To prove to the world that I care about you and you are the best thing to ever happen to me so I've changed? Yeah, alright then._ Luke said, getting up as people cheered. He gave me his hand and I grabbed it, getting up awkwardly. Everyone started clapping as we stood up, got into the middle of the room and waited for a second.

The dance was simple and hard at the same time; the moves weren't particularly hard apart from a few floor moves and made sense with the really sweet song, but it was more about the timing and synchronisation of the moves. A few second later, the element of the song came on and we stood ready for the second, with the back to the mirrors **. (A/N: I imagine the dance to be like Kyle Hanagami's choreography to the song, but with the first pair to dance)**

I was more amazed that Luke managed to keep up with the dance, only slipping up a few times but I didn't care. He kept looking over at me before gently singing the song to me telepathically, letting me know the words of the song were what he was feeling. We ended the dance by holding each other as we fell to the floor, and I kissed his forehead before we got up and Luke hugged me tight.

'I love you Grace, we're not giving up,' He whispered into my ear to as everyone clapped, standing up. 'Please don't give up on me, either,' He mumbled.

'You know I won't,' I mumbled back on tiptoes as the clapping died down and we stopped hugging. Everyone was grinning at us and I knew some of the students had recorded us on their phones and despite what Alison was saying that the video would be on social media later.

'What time is it?' Luke said to Ellie, who was watching us with a smile on her face.

'It's twelve fifteen,' She said to us sweetly. Luke nodded, knowing we had to get going to make it to the assembly we had to speak in. 'We're having a dance showcase at the end of February if you wanted to come?' Ellie said but directed it to me rather than Luke. 'I think it's during the day, but if you wanted to perform or just come along and watch,' She mumbled, handing the piece of paper with the details to me and I took it but looked Luke.

'I dunno what we're doing in February,' He said.

'Well, I know what you're _supposed_ to be doing,' I said, directing it to him and he rolled his eyes – he knew I was on about him going to university which we was meant to start Monday for a lecture at eleven in the morning, and I had offered to take him and sit at the back of his lecture with him as "security". I knew he would be fine, but I felt like a nervous parent waiting for my kid to go to school for the first time. Everyone laughed gently, not quite understanding the joke. 'But if I can get time off work, then yeah I'll come,' I told Ellie and she smiled shyly.

'Anyway, we better go, we have that assembly we're speaking at or something, we walked out of Trisha's office before she could tell us what to do,' Luke told Ellie and everyone was silent – they were clearly scared of their head teacher. Even Ellie's mouth dropped. 'Grace pissed her off,' He added and everyone laughed.

'All I did was told her I beat her team in cross country three years ago,' I mumbled as Luke grabbed our items.

'Thank you for allowing us you join your class for a few hours,' Luke said to Ellie with his charming grin and I could see all the students stare at us again, some with small smiles and the others smiling at him. We left the room with Alison behind us.

'Since when can you both dance?' Alison questioned as the door closed behind us.

'I've been dancing since I was born until I was eighteen,' I told Alison.

'I could tell you've been dancing since you were young, it was almost fluid, and I mean your gift must help,' Alison mumbled under her breath – she was a Savant herself and was more than aware of my gift and my family's link to the Net. 'But you, Luke? God, your Mum would die when she sees this footage.'

I smiled at Alison. Caroline has been trying to get Luke to attend lessons on proper etiquette and how to dance at white tie events and how to eat properly at these things but the main issue was his dancing which was awful. He just didn't care enough to bother and his excuse was always "who would I dance with?" but now I had come into the equation, Caroline told me softly one day when he wasn't around that he signed back up to practice with his Uncle and Aunt and some other Lord's so he didn't let me down.

'Oh, I bet she will,' Luke said gently, putting his arm around my waist. We walked out of the building and down the gravel road where I could see pupils milling around as it was their lunch break. It took a while for people to see us and when they did, they got out their smart phones as we just walked like it was no different. I didn't want to seem above it all, but I kept reminding myself I didn't have to win anyone's respect or prove my worth just because my boyfriend was the Prince. It's like a normal couple supporting each other's work – like Markie when he was supporting Jack going through his training. This is the equivalent.

We found ourselves being escorted with staff into a small hall as the main atrium we had run through earlier was being set up with chairs for pupils. We met a variety of people; student reps from the three different houses within the school and they were all very nice. As Luke continued to walk around talking to various people, a task I found completely tedious and was not up for, I sat next to the three girls; Maria, Elisia and Ivy. They were all very shy to start with but eventually get got speaking.

'Did you actually go to Cambridge?' Ivy asked me from two chairs down. I was sitting on one of my legs and my chair was turned so I could see them slightly better. Maria and Elisia looked at her shocked as they were probably told not to speak to me unless I ask them a question.

'Yeah, it was alright actually. Not as posh as everyone thinks,' I said.

'How did you get in? I was considering applying,' Elisia asked me.

'I got in through sheer luck, really. My parents weren't loaded and were just normal working people so it wasn't money related or status related as the media just _assumed_ it was. My GCSE grades weren't good, I barely got into the sixth form. I think I got seven GCSE's? I spent the majority of my time in the GCSE years being an LGBTQ+ ambassador within the school. My older brother is gay and he got bullied awfully and I thought it was more important to protect him and others who found themselves being targeted based on sexuality, and my grades slipped but I didn't give a shit, it was worth it. But I buckled down my A-levels, my tutor suggested it and I laughed in her face when she did, but I applied for Oxbridge and got into Cambridge, I smashed the essays and so on.' I shrugged, 'Sorry, that is not much help at all, I'm sure you expected something like _"bribe the guys,"_ or something, but I got in by sheer luck,' I told Elisia.

'Surely you must be in your last year now, though?' Elisia asked me.

'Er, well, I missed the entire first year and started on the second year, so I graduated last summer,' I told them and they looked a bit socked.

'How did you miss an entire year?' Maria asked.

'My parents died in the summer after I finished my A-levels,' I said quietly, looking down at the floor. 'They were involved in a car crash the night of my last exam, and both died. My brother took me in and looked after me but I couldn't do anything, I could barely function. I just sat around moping all day so I emailed Cambridge, asking them for a reading list and they got back to me. I ordered all the textbooks and papers and so on and just studies for twenty hours a day just to take my mind off everything. I went to the university three weeks before I was due to start and they had heard about what had happened and offered the usual counselling service and so on, they asked how I was coping and I mentioned that I had already done the course for the first year. They decided to set a one off the exam, and if I got double the normal threshold for the first year they would start one on the second year. Of course, the first year doesn't matter, you just need 40% to pass, so I done the exam and got a stupidly high percent and started on the second year of the course,' I explained as I looked up, I saw Luke standing talking to some teachers with a concerned look on his face and I just smiled at him and nodded. He nodded once back before continuing talking.

'Is that how you met,' Ivy asked, nodding to Luke. I knew the lie and nodded.

'Yeah, I was on a night out and more than slightly drunk and so was Luke, his cousins went to Cambridge and I had literally no idea who he was, so I was more than slightly drunk, and it just kind of spiralled out of control from there,' I joked and they all smiled at me.

'How are you after the… kidnapping?' Ivy asked me and the other two went to tell her off, but I just smiled.

'I'm alright now,' I said gently. 'I was a bit roughed up at the beginning, but I'm okay now,' I said.

'What is it like dating a Prince?' Maria asked, bringing us back to safe topics.

'Literally no different from dating anyone else, just slightly more fast food than normal. We're both normal people who come holding Nando loyalty cards, we aren't really too different from anyone else,' I answered.

'Grace, you ready sweetheart?' Luke said, coming up behind me.

'Nope,' I said, popping the "P" as Luke waited for me to get up, gently taking my hand as someone came up to him, telling him gently to do.

'Well, it was nice talking to you if I cannot find you after,' I told them sweetly as Luke waited for me for a moment as I got up, putting the backpack on as he frowned and I knew he was pissy I was carrying weight when pregnant but knew better to argue in front of people as someone shepherd me out in front of the 600 students and the god knows how many teachers too. A row of chairs had been set up near the front, a plinth for a speaker. Immediately, the stares from everyone who attends this school turned to Luke and myself and Luke held my hand a bit tighter as we were shown to our chairs at the end. After a few seconds of silence, the conversation eventually filled the room again and Luke turned around on his chair to talk to me.

'Don't worry, I'll do all the talking, alright? Don't worry about it,' Luke said to me softly as people filed into the chairs around us.

'It's still nerve-racking,' I mumbled and Luke smiled at me softly.

'It'll be alright, poppet,' Luke said gently.

And sure enough, it was, true to what Luke said he did all the speaking, he did a twenty-minute speech that was hilarious and sweet at the same time. He told a few stories of him and Theo when they were kids, and everyone laughed. He mentioned about his education in what he classed as a normal school but what the majority of people called a _private, expensive-ass school_ before he continued talking about the hard word and so on. He told some stories from him at university only a year previous and everyone seemed to shock and I knew it wasn't in the media a lot. He rounded up the speech with a few good quips which had everyone happy and smiling before sitting next to me, squeezing my shoulder on the way through. Thankfully, no one expected me to speak.

We made it through the rest of the day without any major issues; we went around a few more classes for around twenty minutes each including three different science classes, and English class who were studying a book I had done for my GCSE exams. We even went down to the canteen and purchased some potato wedges whilst everyone was on lunch break. To make me feel comfortable, Luke found a psychology class who were doing what I would class as basic stuff. We sat down with a group of teenagers, and I had helped them with the vast majority of their work as Luke watched me explain certain aspects of the topic of biological aggression they did not understand with a small smile on his face and that deep look in his face.

It came to four o'clock, the majority of the pupils had left and we had spoken to some of the staff. Now, we just stood on the platform in the main atrium, a floor above the main exit.

'You did incredible, Grace,' Luke said, standing next to me, his arm finding its way around my waist. He waved to Alison's who was heading home for the weekend and she waved back at us. I looked up at Luke with a small smile.

'You think?'

'Yeah, doing all of that wasn't easy. You're a natural,' Luke said.

'You had a good day?' Trisha said, coming up to us with a fake smile on her face. We both nodded.

'It was good, thank you,' Luke said sweetly. 'We should be off now, we have to pick Grace's brother up from work,' Luke said.

'Well, you're more than welcome back here anytime, your Royal Highness,' She bowed again before a moment of silence. 'Oh, you too, Grace,' she added as an afterthought. Luke hummed slightly with annoyance and I had to jump in.

'Thank you, have a good weekend,' I said, pulling Luke into a walk. Reluctantly he followed me as we walked out of the school in silence, only the odd person hanging around.

'God, you massively pissed her off,' Luke angrily growled.

'Calm down, Luke,' I sighed. 'I piss off a lot of people,' I joked, unlocking the car from a few meters away. We climbed into the car and buckled up before Luke replied.

'You shouldn't though, you are a wonderful person,' I sighed at his reply.

'It's just normal for people to hate on other people,' I said, pulling away In Ruby and down the roads to the exit.

'But you're the best person in the world,'

'Your biased,' I pointed out, thanking the car that let us out.

'Well, yeah, but I am the lucky bugger who gets to call you their girlfriend. And one day, hopefully, my fiancé and my wife and the mother of my children, so yeah, of course, I am biased because in my eyes you are perfect,'

'You need to stop being so soppy,' I sighed and he grinned.

We picked up Jack and Markie a few minutes late due to traffic and drove back to their home in good spirits, sharing stories. However, the silence was heavy in the car when we turned the corner and realised that, in the parking corner in front of Jack's house was full with large black Jeeps – four of them. Luke sat up as we realised the same thing. They were the Palace's security vehicles.

'Oh god,' I whispered, parking half on the pavement.

Luke got out the car the second my car stopped and spoke loudly to one of the security blokes. 'What's happened?'

'Your Royal Highness, if you wouldn't mind coming inside with us,' they said, pointing to Jack's house. I got out the car, and met Luke, Jack and Markie around the front and we all walked in, passing two security blokes guarding the door. Within the front room of the small house, Caroline and Theo sat on the sofa, Vick next to them, Toeskin and Kieran was by the door and other blokes of security were milling around.

'What's happened?' Luke immediately shot into the room as he dropped the backpack on the floor and sat next to me. The room was heavy silence as everyone looked over at each other, wondering who the best to speak is. Eventually, everyone decided Theo was the best to break the news. Luke came over and put his arm around my shoulder in a comforting way but also to keep me close. Theo looked incredibly upset. It was evident in the way he was sitting, and the look in his eyes. I looked over at Vick and he had the same look in his eyes as he did when he told us that Callus' trial had been dropped.

'We might need to break you and Grace up,' Theo said.

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\

Hiya! Sorry this took so long but considering the length of it, I think you'll understand why. It's quite a fluffy chapter but it will become exteremly important later on. Do we all still like it? I haven't been very well and I was considering just leaving it but I can't tell if it was just because i was down and tired or something else.

Also, someone reviewed saying they think they know who the bad person is messing around with Luke and Grace and their relationship - who do we think is the bad people are? Think Callus is working alone? In all honesty I have a list of people who I might potentially throw under the bus metaphorically but I haven't decided yet (actually, I have at the end of this chapter). But who do we think it is?

Someone also asked if Jack and Markie are together (and someone also asked who Mark and Marcus is), but yeah Jack and Markie are engaged. Marcus is Markie's full name, and he was referred to that a few times in more of a mocking way, but he shortens it down to Mark, and Grace Jack and Luke refer to him as Markie.


	34. Chapter 34

**Oops! Uploaded the wrong chapter! That is what happens when you are extremely tired! Sorry - lets try this again!**

 **Thirty-four**

The room fell silent as we tried to take in what Theo had just told us. I immediately frowned at him, but I knew it wasn't his suggestion as he looked incredibly guilty and sad looking at the floor. I then checked Caroline who looked equally as devastated and was even tearing up a bit more. She had told me she accepted me fully as a daughter of hers, and treated me completely equally with Theo and Luke, so I knew this would tear her apart. I then looked across to Andrew Toeskin, the man who worked with my father and initially hired me into MI5 and then to Kieran, the security manager within Buckingham. My own manager. They both looked like it was no big deal and was wondering what was with the dramatic reply.

Luke held me a bit tighter and I knew he was very quickly speaking to Theo telepathically as I looked across to Jack, who also looked horrified. Markie just looked down at the floor, trying to hide his emotions to keep me calm.

'No,' Luke simply said.

'Your Royal Highness, it would be for your own safety,' Toeskin said to us.

'I don't care if being with her would put me in danger, I'm not breaking up with her just for your peace of mind and to make your job easier,' Luke said bitterly.

'This was your idea?' I addressed him and he looked away, clenching his jaw.

'Someone, somewhere, is getting intelligence about both of you two, putting you both at risk. Luke, your danger level has gone out of the roof since she's arrived,' Kieran addressed him. 'Grace was assigned to get down to the bottom of this and now she's involved,'

'Whoever is my girlfriend would be involved in my family affairs, it's common sense!' Luke yelled at him.

'She is security,' Kieran raised his voice back.

'She's my girlfriend,' Luke matched his tone.

'She has a voice,' I joined in. 'I'm with Luke, fire me if it's that much of an issue. I was the one in this room that was kidnapped, I was the victim here, none of you lot so stop acting like a bunch of four-year-olds, stop trying to relocate us or get us to split up to stop you a headache and focus on getting Callus and his merry men behind bars,' I shouted at Kieran and Andrew who both looked at each other. Caroline looked up at me with a small smile on her face.

'Grace, it's not that we don't want you on our teams,' Kieran said, 'you are very good at your job, and you have provided us with leads no one else would have been able too,'

'Then what's with this punishment, eh?'

'It's for your safety, both of yours, Grace you have already been kidnapped by this madman who has a vendetta against one of you two, we can't risk anything happening to you both now that your relationship is in the media,' Kieran tried to lecture me.

'You sure this isn't way to sack me?' I asked Kieran and he sighed.

'You two better not have agreed to this,' Luke said to his Mum and Brother.

'No, of course not,' Caroline said back to Luke. 'But we do need to find a way to protect you two, especially as you are heading back to university Monday,'

'Thanks for telling us about that, by the way.' Theo said and I looked at Luke – he didn't tell his brother he was going to university? I knew that he didn't tell his parents that he went to university after he told them he applied for Bournemouth and he mentioned that he didn't tell his Dad until mid-way through the second year when they found out he was sneaking out to attend lectures three times a week (which I thought was fairly impressive) but I assumed it was something down to Edward's behaviour. But then why didn't he tell his mother and brother. Luke gently shook his head, telling me softly that it's not the time to argue about that.

'With this level of secrecy, we cannot leave anything to risk,' Andrew continued.

'Why can't they just be a bit more honest, and they can stay together?' Jack started arguing.

'Because they are both compulsive liars,' Andrew said.

Everyone started protesting in the room before Andrew realised what he said.

'What I mean is both of them don't tell anyone where they are going, they sneak around security who are there to protect them, and they hide things like pregnancies and going back to university from the people who are there to protect them, so how on Earth can we keep them safe when they are together? The answer is, we can't.' Andrew sighed.

'Okay, then you two has to be more open with your security people, and you two can stay together and live happily ever after.' Jack said to us and I nodded.

'Well,' Andrew said and I immediately rolled my eyes. 'That doesn't stop the threat against them and as Luke is part of the Royal family, he takes priority over Grace,'

'No, Grace is part of the family too. She is my daughter. And Jack and Mark are my extended family and they shall be treated as such,' Caroline butted in and ordered the two security gentleman and they bowed their heads. 'So they are no more of a threat to each other when they are together, or when they are apart,'

'Your Majesty,' Kieran sighed.

'I'm not having any more of this bullshit,' Caroline said. 'I thought you had a good security idea in order to protect these two and their future child, and I am horrified you wouldn't run anything like this passed me,' she sighed. 'Would you split up my two sons if they were security threats when they are together?

'No, your Majesty,' they both said simultaneously.

'Then why are you trying to split up Grace and Luke? Especially when they have a child on its way,' Caroline said, rubbing her forehead.

'It was just an idea,'

'No, it was more than just a suggestion,' Theo shot back. 'You told us you had a plan that would involve moving them away from us, not moving them a _part_. We know there are people after them, and they got to Grace one time because we didn't declare their relationship because, like normally people, they wanted privacy. We've learnt the lesson. Stick them both with security guards and armed police if you have intelligence suggesting an attack. Grace has a license to carry a gun, correct? You issued her with one when she started and Luke wanted her as his "driver" or whatever they used to cover up their relationship?' Theo asked and Kieran nodded. 'There we go then, give Grace a gun, and make security follow them around, you do not need to break them up,'

There was silence in the room.

'I don't see how that would affect them, and if you are concerned about their wellbeing, then move them to a location that is in the middle of the sticks,' Theo added.

'It could work, but someone is still getting intelligence about both of you,' Kieran said.

'They shouldn't be able to get intelligence if it's off the books,' Caroline said, 'Treat it black ops, I will not have my son, my daughter-in-law-to-be and my future grandchild, in any more danger,' She ordered. 'That's enough for now,' Caroline said and the security lads bowed before walking out the room. The silence was heavy.

'I'm so sorry, Luke, Grace,' Caroline said softly and I shrugged. Luke, realising how upset, gently tugged me to stand up. He gently took my hand and led me out of the room, walking upstairs into Jack and Markie's bedroom, closing the door behind us before pulling me into a hug. I fell into his chest, bursting out crying as he hugged me tightly. After a minute or so, with him telling me it'll be alright and so on, he realised I wasn't going to stop crying for a while and he picked me up gently, sat my on his lap on the edge of the back and rocked me gently. It took about fifteen minutes for me to calm down.

'You won't leave me, will you?' I sniffed, shivering against his chest.

'Of course, I won't Grace,' He whispered back to me. 'No chance in Hell, you're stuck with me,' He said, his cheek against the crown of my head.

'Even if we are forced too?'

'I will find you, Grace, they can try and split us up but I won't let them. I will get married to you tomorrow if that is what it takes for people to realise I am not leaving you,' Luke mumbled gently. 'I promise,'

'Okay,' I said, snuggling up against him. There was a knock on the door and Caroline walked in.

'Grace, Luke, I am so sorry,' She said. 'I had no idea… they just said they had a plan to keep you two safe and the baby safe as well,'

'It's alright, it wasn't you saying it,' Luke said and Caroline smiled.

'I'm so glad you're understanding,' She said softly to Luke. 'I'm sorry for getting you caught up in the affairs and dramas of our family, Grace, especially when you are pregnant. It's not the stress you need,' Caroline told me softly.

'It's not your fault,' I whispered back, still leaning into Luke's chest where I felt like home.

'Theo and I are going to head home, Luke, you are more than welcome to come back to Buckingham if you want too, or just return to Windsor. Just… text me and let me know what's going on,' Caroline whispered, before coming over and kissing Luke on the forehead, and then myself. 'I wish there was a way for me to protect you both,' She said sadly before walking out the room.

I remained curled up in Luke's lap for another hour or two until I was completely calm, and about twenty minutes in Luke gently started telling me stories of his childhood knowing how much it calmed me down earlier in the day. He kept asking me question to which I didn't reply, but it didn't faze him.

'So, when I was about nine, I had these friends – I say, friends, they were some fancy rich kids of some Lord's or something – and we were placed together in a science experiment about photosynthesis and if a plant would last longer in the sunshine or in a cupboard. So it was me, Adam, Sebastian, Tyrone and Peter. All very boring names, but hey ho. Welcome to the extremely upper class - dull names to suit the family tree. Me and Theo can't speak, can we? Anyway, our science teacher, Mr Kibinson, always had this trench coat in his cupboard at the back of the class where we were hiding the place, and it was myself and Tyrone, we thought it was hilarious to fill the jacket with soil in all the pockets, and there were quite a few pockets, and we planted loads of seeds in it. We left the plants in their bags as it was self-containing for about three months, and we went back in and his favourite coat was absolutely covered in plants. It was the funniest thing when you were nine.' Luke said to me softly.

'What do they all do now?' I asked Luke and he kissed my head. Our relationship didn't have much time to meet and greet friends or extended family; we were hiding our relationship for a substantial amount of time and during that time, my two friends didn't know about Luke. I knew Luke had quite a substantial amount of friends he was constantly texting or meeting up with but I couldn't meet them. After I got kidnapped, Luke didn't want to leave my side. I had met a few of his friends as they came around to see who I am and was surprised that most of his friends weren't stuck up their own arses or rolling in cash.

'I still am close with Tyrone and Adam. I lost touch with Peter at sixteen when I changed schools. I don't know what happened to Sebastian, he left when he was thirteen and I haven't heard from him since. Tyrone and Adam aren't anyone fancy, though, they were just people whose parents had money to send them to a private school. They're lovely. Remember the sandcastle building competition?' Luke asked and I nodded. 'They were two of the guys who went down with me, the other was someone I went to university with,' He sighed.

'You're going to miss your mates, aren't you?' I mumbled to him, wondering if _persuading_ him to transfer to Surrey was the right thing.

'I didn't have many good mates, believe me. Status gets in the way of that. People pretend to be your mates in order to get in the papers or to brag. You know your real mates when something awful happens,' Luke sighed.

'You're on about your deployment, aren't you?' I whispered to him and he nodded sadly.

'Yeah, there was a group of around fifteen lads, from about four different courses, and I thought they were all my good mates. I told them I was going abroad with the army and they seemed quite alright with it. It was when I got injured, that's when I found out who my real mates were. Theo told all of them for me when I was in a theatre being operated on urgently but only two made the journey up to see if I was alright.'

'Jamie and Serena.' I stated, remembering. Sure enough, Luke's gentle talking to me about anything and everything helped me out of my crying state and made me feel a bit more human again. He knew the way around me.

'Yeah, they were the only two who bothered, so I only have like… five mates?' Luke said softly. 'It was Jamie, Serena, Tyrone and Adam who helped me when you were taken too. I think they all want to meet you, but I said you may not be up for it yet.'

'I'm sure we can find time to meet up?' I whispered to him and he nodded. 'Which ones were Savants again?'

'Jamie and Serena, they're Soulfinders. They've known since they were twelve,' Luke said gently. 'Must have been awful finding that out so young, no one is in their prime at twelve.'

There was a gentle knock at the door and Jack popped his head through the crack in the door. 'You two alright?'

'Yeah,' I said, and Jack smiled sadly at me.

'We're just about to head down to the supermarket, need some stuff, want to come with?' Jack asked and I frowned before looking at Luke.

'Yeah, might be good to get some air,' I ended up saying for us and Luke nodded.

'Alright then, get your shoes on,' Jack said gently leaving the room.

/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\

It was about half nine by the time we left the house and it was freezing. It was only a few weeks until Christmas and the temperature was freezing up accordingly and we had to wait a few minutes to get the very thin frost from the cars, despite it only just about being night. We all got into Ruby, being the most modern car with all the little attachments of decent heating as so on, before we drove to the nearest supermarket, only about a five-minute drive from Jack's house.

However, the car park was deserted – the place must have been able to hold around five hundred cars when full, but not only held about six of the graveyard shift workers. Luke pulled into a random car park space.

'Think it's closed,' I said to Jack and he frowned.

'Markie – you said it was open?'

'Er, I lied. I need to tell you all something,' He sighed, getting out the car. He slammed the door behind him and we all sat inside for a second. I turned around to Jack and the worry was clear in his eyes. Before I could say anything to him, Jack got out the car.

'What is happening?' I whispered to Luke and he shrugged, leaving the engine running but getting out the car. I did the same, and we all met on the drivers' side of the car.

'What do you need to tell us?' Jack asked, sceptical.

Markie sighed, pacing slightly. It took about fifteen seconds for him to come out and say what was on his mind.

'I think I might have been the source of the information against you two,' Markie said, looking up at myself and Luke. 'I didn't mean to be, I never even thought I would be getting anyone hurt,'

'What do you mean?' Luke and Jack said at the exact same time.

'Oh my God,' Markie said, still pacing and covering his mouth with his hands. He rubbed his stubble, looking to the sky as if asking for help before turning around. As if on cue, it has started to sleet, covering the floor with sticky slush that was melting before it could settle. I put my hood up against the weather but Luke and Jack did nothing to protect themselves from the weather.

'You know every Sunday, my family has a roast dinner, right?' He addressed the question to Jack but he didn't budge. He looked furious. With his arms crossed, you could see the muscles rippling. 'You don't often come, you don't like my Uncle's and Aunt's which I don't blame you. They, they can do this thing where they make you speak,' He addressed it to me and Luke, 'It's against the rules of the Net, using your gift forcefully, it violates another person,' He said.

'Jack told me that you got a job inside Buckingham Palace, Grace. I was so happy for you, and then he told me you found your Soulfinder and I was over the moon. After all the pain you have had, you deserve that piece of happiness, but Jack never told me who it was. So two Sundays over, my uncle, Nikos, was there. He's the one who can make you speak. He asked me how Jack was and I said it was okay and then he went into my head, done the thing, and I told him you had a job within MI5 in Buckingham, and you met your Soulfinder. I cannot remember what happened next. I never do, you see, I just start remembering from dinner.' He looked at us for any kind of sign. Jack was the one who replied.

'That was meant to be secret,' He hissed.

'I didn't know I told him,' Markie said.

'Then how do you remember now!' Jack shouted back and it echoed across the carpark. Luke tightened the grip around my waist.

'I don't know, Jack,' Markie whispered back and Jack started pacing.

'So came the night that I met you for the first time,' Markie said, 'Remember after we had dinner and we were sitting around, drinking, I had a phone call I said I had to take. I said it was Sasha,' He said and I closed my eyes, knowing exactly where this was going. We were sitting around the table still, laughing away. I was on my fourth glass of wine. Markie got a phone call, pulled out his phone and saw the caller ID, said it was his sister before running upstairs to answer it. We didn't think anything of it. 'He's powerful, Nikos, he really is. He can do it now just by conversation. He asked me who was there, and I said it was Jack's sister and her boyfriend, and then he got out of me you were the Prince. He asked me what time you were leaving. I told him I had no idea and he then asked where you were going. I said that Grace was drunk so Luke would be driving back to Buckingham in the early hours.'

'After Grace was kidnapped, Nikos didn't call anymore. Until three days ago, when he asked when you were coming down to visit us, to stay with us. He asked me where you were sleeping when you stayed over. He wasn't asking about Luke, he was asking about _you._ Grace, he knows you are here, you need to go. Now.' Markie said in tears.


	35. Chapter 35

**Thirty-Five**

'After Grace was kidnapped, Nikos didn't call anymore. Until three days ago, when he asked when you were coming down to visit us, to stay with us. He asked me where you were sleeping when you stayed over. He wasn't asking about Luke, he was asking about _you._ Grace, he knows you are here, you need to go. Now.' Markie said in tears.

The silence was heavy as we tried to figure out what he meant. And it hit me. Markie was the one feeding these people who wanted me dead, or Luke dead, information? Was he the snake in the grass? We all came to the conclusion the same time.

'It… it was you? You are the one who was grassing up my sister?' Jack asked sounding absolutely heartbroken. And furious. He took a step closer to Markie and Markie flinched back.

'Jack, I had no idea, I only realised a few days ago – his gift was slipping. I remembered after. I tried to stop what was happening but I couldn't which is why you need to leave now,' He addressed the last part to Luke and myself. 'You need to get her out of here,' He then addressed Luke as he put his arm around my shoulder.

'How can we trust you now?' Luke shot back. 'How do we know you didn't set the plan up? Hell – how do we know that there isn't a car bollard at the top of the road now to stop us leaving?' Luke was furious. Jack looked ready to snap Markie's neck. It was just me who was in denial.

'Why, Mark?' I whispered and he flinched. I never called him Mark unless I was angry.

'I honestly didn't know until a few days ago,' Markie whispered over to me, tears in his eyes. He knew he had just ruined half of his family but he was still doing it to protect us. He was ripping himself apart to tell us this information, to get us to leave. If we weren't going to get stopped, he was doing it to protect us. That at least meant something? He could have just kept the information to himself and got us all buggered, but he was telling us.

Jack took a step closer to him, but this time Markie stood his ground.

'I trusted you with my life,' Jack angrily whispered.

'Jack, please, I had no idea, I couldn't help myself,' Markie started crying. 'Please,' He begged.

'Jack, leave it,' I whispered, getting the shivers. It was only two weeks to Christmas, the first Christmas Luke and I will spend together and the only one we'll have before we spend the holiday with our child, and it was the first Christmas Jack and Markie would spend together as fiancés. But at this rate, it might be a miserable holiday for all of us. Jack turned around on the spot, the damp floor making it easy to pivot with old trainers on, and he looked at me like I told him I was having triplets, and the father to them was Markie.

' _Leave it?!'_ He mimicked me. He then pointed at Markie, arm at full stretch and nearly hit him in the face. 'He was the reason behind getting you kidnapped, Grace!'

'Jack, you heard what Callus said in the confession to the police. He's been watching us for years. He knew about the time I walked to school with my backpack open and my English book fell out! He knew about me before Markie was even in your life. He didn't help but he wasn't the cause of this.' I shouted back and everyone looked surprised I was sticking up for Markie.

'Grace, baby,' Luke whispered to me.

'No, Luke, stop. Why don't we just stop arguing and get the Hell out of here?' I said softly. Luke and Jack looked at each other before nodding.

'He's not coming with us,' Jack said simply, walking over to the other side of Ruby.

'How am I going to get home?' He asked, starting to shiver. It was bitingly cold outside now the sun had set and was heading towards midnight. The sleet was more on the snow side than anything else. I opened the back door, half climbing in as I saw Jack getting into the passenger seat. I looked over at my brother, who was still furious but the hurt was starting to get to him. The pure betrayal that the one person he loves, his Soulfinder, would do such a thing to him and his family. I remember how I felt when Luke spat in my face he hated me, and I was a liar and how broken I felt – that must be mild compared to what Jack was feeling.

'You better start walking,' Jack simply said, getting into the car. Luke sighed, debating whether to get him back in the car. Luke started up the engine but before he could set off, I opened the door.

'In,' I simply said to Markie who looked shocked at me.

'Grace, get in the car,' Jack said.

'In, before I change my mind,' I ordered Markie and he ran around the other side of the car.

'He tried to get you killed and you invite him in, right, MI5 need to on security protocol,' Jack snorted. 'I can't believe you, Grace, he –' I looked at Luke in the car who remained impartial, knowing better than to argue.

'Jack, shut up, will you? Yes, I am fundamentally pissed off right now and that's putting it mildly, but I'm not a psycho who would enjoy the pain of letting him walk home in minus three-degree temperatures. Luke, drop him off the top of the road, don't think about where you're going to go either, just to be on the safe side.' I told Luke and he nodded, driving off at speed.

The silence in the car was extremely heavy and you could cut it with a knife. Jack was in the front, sulking, Markie was hunched over sobbing and Luke kept checking how I was doing in the mirror every few seconds.

 _How are you doing back there, sweetheart?_ Luke asked me as we drove along the winding roads, heading towards the shared house of Jack and Markie – none of us knew what we were going to do now but I doubt I would get any sleep which I desperately craved. Turns out, you can't do the same amount of work you could do when you weren't pregnant compared to when you are without some kind of knock on effect.

 _Did I do the right thing?_ I asked him.

 _I think you did. I was too angry to make any kind of rational call. I still am. I think Jack was – is – too._ Luke said softly, looking over at Jack who was slunk in the front passenger seat, arms crossed, lips pursed and looking out the window.

 _What's your current plan?_ I said, building a strong wall around our conversation. Markie could occasionally pick up on thoughts and if this Nikos bloke was picking them from his head, it wasn't a wise idea to think about what we were going to do out loud.

 _I've already been speaking to Theo, I've filled him in. He's told us to go to Windsor castle and they're going to get us two out to a safe house as soon as they can – most likely tomorrow morning. We're going to be interviewed when we get to Windsor and at some point, we will be escorted by the police guard to wherever they deem is safe. I believe they'll bring in Markie for questioning, use Theo to see if he is telling the truth and if he is we know he's on our side and his emotions are genuine. If not…_

 _It will tear Jack apart._ I looked over at my older brother, who was still sulking, but I saw the tears in his eyes and the dampness of his cheek.

 _Yeah, it will._ Luke said softly.

 _Who is this Nikos guy, though? Think it could be Callus' real identity?_

 _No, they found Callus on file. Callum is his real name, but much like everyone within his anti-Savant camp, he removed his identity by changing one letter of his name. I don't know what Nikos relationship to these guys is._ Luke said, turning into Jack's road. I don't think Jack even noticed or he would have ordered us to stop by now and let Markie walk down the mile stretch to their house in the snow. Luke got as far as he dared, knowing going down the thin and windy roads could lead to him being penned in, before stopping on the kerb. It was about a five-minute walk back to their place now.

'Thank you,' Markie addressed to me, his voice quiet and silenced with tears. I simply bowed my head. 'Sorry again,'

'Sorry doesn't take back my sisters near death or the pain we all went through. Well, probably not you.' Jack growled in the front and Markie sighed as he got out the car. He was barely clear when Jack slammed the door telekinetically as Luke did a turn in the road and got out of there.

'Why did you let him get in the car, Grace?' Jack asked.

'Because you can't make rational choices when angry,'

'He tried to kill you!' Jack shouted.

'He had nothing to do with my kidnapping, Jack!' I yelled back. 'Okay, he might have given a bit of information but this was a premeditated attack! Callus had been watching us both for years and several others, and he's been watching Luke and his family as well. It was premeditated, but also opportunistic attack because he found out that I was with Luke. I was kidnapped because Markie leaked that information, true, but the media would have found out eventually and the same thing would have happened later on – but I would have been further along in the pregnancy then, wouldn't I?' I asked him and he shrugged like a sulking school kid.

'The answer to that, brother mine, is yes. You are right to be angry, but he didn't know what he was doing. The exact same was as I didn't know when I rejected Luke for two weeks after the kidnapping was wrong, and I didn't know what I was doing, and two nights ago when Luke rejected me because I remembered part of the kidnapping, he didn't know what he was doing, and he didn't know it was wrong either.' I said and Jack sighed.

'It hurts, Grace,' Jack said, finally cracking. I moved into the middle seat as Luke waited at some traffic lights, not saying anything.

'I know it does, Jack, but you need to step away from the situation and look at it as a whole. Markie would never hurt you on purpose. These people are sick and twisted and are trying to tear apart the very small amount of family we have left, Jack, you can't let them win,' I said to him softly.

'He tried to get you killed,' He shouted at me.

I sighed, the anger getting so pent up in me from my God damn brothers ignorance and unwillingness to listen to anyone else but him when angry. Suddenly, there was an agonising cramp in my lower abdomen, ten times worse than period pains. I curled up slightly, gasping.

'Grace?' Luke asked, looking in the rear view mirror. 'Grace, what's up? What's wrong?' He asked but I couldn't reply, unable to focus on anything else other than the stabbing pain in my abdomen. It hurt so much that I couldn't focus on anything else. I felt the car come to a sharp stop, the jolt back into my seat making the pain unbearable. But I knew with a trainee paramedic and a nurse in the car, I was in safe hands.

I screwed my eyes closed, unaware as to if I was breathing if I was lying down or sitting up, or even if my heart was beating. I could only focus on the stabbing pain. Was it something to do with the baby?

And then the world blacked out.

/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\

I had overdone it. That much I was aware of. A killer headache, the taste of iron in the back of my throat and the general weakness all over my body told me that loud and clear. I could hear the odd beep of machines and had to resist the urge to roll my eyes at how dramatic my boyfriend was. The second I was marginally ill, I was taken to a hospital. There was something tight across my lower abdomen – but the bed didn't feel right for a hospital bed but felt welcomingly familiar.

It hit me – I was back in Buckingham.

Slowly I opened my eyes, going to rub them with the back of my hand before seeing a catheter in them for some form of drip – saline or medical was unknown to me – and I frowned. I was back in Buckingham, in my old living quarters, in the double bed that Luke and I spent so many nights sleeping on within the early days of our relationship. The double doors leading out from the bedroom into the living space were closed, and there were still a few personal items here where I didn't have space to pack them down to head to Windsor.

'Grace,' Luke whispered and I turned my head to see Luke sitting beside me with a large paperback book in his hand, splayed out on his palm. As he realised I was awake. He closed it dramatically and put it on the bed, before lying down next to me so we could see eye to eye. 'Hey, sweetheart,' He whispered to me gently.

'What time is it? Why am I here? Are you okay? What's happened? Where's Jack? Where's Mark?' I asked him rapid-fire. Luke gently kissed me, only a small peck, to get me to stop talking I could guess. He took my hand softly, squeezing it.

'Calm down, Grace,' He said softly. 'Firstly, how are you feeling?'

'Achey… tired.' I told him and he nodded. 'What happened?'

'You overdid it again. Mum called in a specialist midwife to look at you, the one who looked after me and Theo when we were born and before, and she believes your pregnancy is high risk. You can't be dealing with high levels of stress, or you can't be too tired, or your body starts to shut down and the first thing to be affected is,' he gently poked my bump.

'I haven't hurt her, have I?' I whispered with tears in my eyes.

'No, nugget appears to be okay - that's what we're monitoring now,' Luke said, poking the machine on my stomach. It was a weird cream machine that was strapped around me with a huge waist. I rolled over, seeing the machine was linked to a monitor which displayed the baby's heart rate and blood pressure and whilst I couldn't work out what it was I just had to trust Luke. I nodded, looking over.

'The nurse said you have to imagine yourself as a Sim from now on it. You have different needs in order to stay on top of everything for you and nugget, and at all times they have to stay above half. You can't be tired, dehydrated, hungry, stressed from now on in. She believes that because of overdid it, the lining of your womb started to contract. Not good.' Luke said.

'But, everything is okay with nugget?' I asked, rolling over onto my side to face Luke. He was looking at me with his puppy dog eyes and I knew he was extremely concerned about me.

'Think so, they want to monitor her for another few hours just to make sure but all the stats seem okay, just be extremely careful from now on in,' I nodded and he gently put his arm under my head and pulled me in a bit closer, making sure I was covered with the duvet.

'So, the other questions you asked,' He sighed, 'Its ten past six in the morning, you weren't under anything – chances are you were just exhausted too so you slept,'

'I don't care about how much I slept, is Jack okay?'

'Want me to start from when you blacked out?'

'Yup,'

'I got into the back to make sure you were okay as we deemed paramedic in training is better in these situations rather than a paediatric nurse. We got Jack insured on Ruby and he drove us back to Windsor, where they checked you over quickly before flying us into Buckingham,' Luke said softly. 'It was enough to take Jack's mind off everything as we were both in game mode so to speak, focusing on you rather than Mark's behaviour. By the time we were in Buckingham, Markie was already arrested for treason, preventing the course of justice and God knows what else and was being taken to some place to be questioned by MI5. Theo hung around to make sure you were alright before heading down there. Jack is in the other room where I can keep an eye on him and you. He broke, though, had a good cry. We had a nice hug,' Luke said and I smiled gently. 'But he was devastated, and we spoke about it, and he has come around on the scenario that it might not be Markie's fault, but we're waiting for any form of contact from Theo to see what is happening,' Luke said and I nodded.

'Can I see him? Can I see Jack?' I asked Luke and he shrugged.

'Jack!' He called slightly louder than normal as he rolled over before getting out of bed. Sure enough, Jack came scurrying through the door and I could only guess Luke had told my brother that he would call when I woke up.

'Hey,' I said to him and he came over to my side, sitting on the very edge of the bed as I hauled myself up and hugged him. He hugged me back tight.

'I'm so sorry,' He whispered.

'Hey, you didn't cause this,' I mumbled back.

'No, but Markie did and –'

'He didn't cause it either. It wasn't him speaking. Someone else made him tell the stuff. I know it hurts, and I know you think it's betrayal, but both Luke and myself have gone through that and we know it's not us acting, just, don't shut him out completely.' I whispered back.

'Why do you always see things from the middle,' Jack sighed, pulling back from the hug and he chuckled slightly.

'I wish I knew,' I replied.

'But it was the stress that caused –' Jack went to protest and I rolled my eyes dramatically.

'Dude, I was exhausted. I didn't sleep last night, had a long arse day in that school, like how I did full school days I have no idea, I caused it mostly by my own ignorance,'

'Didn't help we did two hours of dance either,' Luke said, coming to my side too.

'Yeah, that as well,' I added.

'It's gone viral, though,' Jack said, raising his eyebrow.

'Oh god – how viral?' I asked. Why would it go viral? We weren't anything special. We just did the same dance with the girls and we didn't even do it well. Jack grinned, pulling out his phone and going on Facebook. Sure enough, some of the gossip pages had gained the footage filmed by someone on their smartphones. It started as we got up, and I turned around at the same time as looking at Luke with a small smile on my face.

Although I had to say we both looked pretty good and like fluent dancers in the video – I suppose I'd have to thank my gift for that – and all the comments were saying it too. The one video I saw – a post from the UniLad – had the comment as "relationship goals", and the original poster of the video, a girl from the class, put "So Prince Luke and his wonderful girlfriend joined our dance class for TWO HOURS earlier! And Learnt the same dance as us and performed it! They were just so nice and genuine and Grace was an incredible dancer who not only helped her less coordinated boyfriend but also us! Love these two!" under with some emojis. I then frowned at views.

'Twelve million?' I gasped.

'You are trending on all social medias, youtube has higher views than that and you are number one, you made the front page of the newspapers, too,' Jack said as Luke leant off the bed and pulled across a newspaper he must have got within the hour or so. Sure enough on the front was a picture of both of us – from the part of the dance where Luke picked me up and spun me around. It was a cute photo, both of us grinning at each other.

 _Dancing with the (GRACE-ful) Stars!_ The caption read and I cringed. I pulled a face at Luke and he laughed. Typical newspapers trying to make puns out of nothing. I quickly read the introduction to the article.

 _Yesterday, His Royal Highness Prince Luke and girlfriend, Grace Williams, made their debut appearance as a couple at Catholic private school, Farnborough Green. When there, the couple found themselves in the dance studio and joined the students there to learn a dance to James Arthurs "Say You Won't Let Go,". The couple - reported being dating for near enough two years now - performed to the cohort of fellow dancers where the footage was obtained, before going viral._

 _The footage shows the performance and their celebrations after which included a long hug and a quick kiss and suggests a changed Prince. From rogue Royalty to devious dancer, we believe that Grace has had a positive influence on the Prince and we could be expecting a marriage announcement if all goes well within the next two years! Read more on page 4._

'Oh,' I said simply putting down the paper. I looked at Luke who was grinning at me before shaking his head. 'Oops,'

'It's fine, you looked brilliant in the video, if I didn't know any –'

We heard someone open the door to the living quarters before knocking on the door to the bedroom, coming in. Theo came into the room timidly but urgently and I knew Luke has told him I was awake and alright. Jack stood up, scared, and we all frowned at Theo. He was already back from interviewing Markie? That cannot be good news – surely? It has only been a few hours. Theo looked at the floor for a second, clearing his voice, before looking back up as Jack.

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Hiya!

Apologies again for the wrong upload of the last chapter. I pressed thirty-two instead of thirty-four and didn't even noticed. Thank you to the people who pointed it out! As a thank you/sorry, I rushed this chapter through for you but I might not uploaded for two weeks or so as I have three exams coming up!

'Jack…' He said, voice full of remorse.


	36. Chapter 36

**AN: Please read right to the end!**

 **Thirty Six**

'Jack…' He said; voice full of remorse. It didn't sound like it was good news. Luke tightened the grip around my waist in preparation for the worst. 'How are you doing?'

'What did you find out?' Jack asked with his voice laced with hope. He was clutching onto straws that his fiancé, the man he's loved for nearly three years now, his Soulfinder, wasn't a backstabbing arsehole.

'He was telling the truth, he had no idea what danger he was putting Grace and Luke in, he had no control over saying anything, he really didn't know until the other day what was going on.' Theo said and we all sighed. That was fine then – Markie wasn't an idiot. 'But he was lying on a few things.'

'What things?' Jack asked, white as a sheet suddenly. I could literally see all the colour from his face fade away.

'Well, it's interesting and confusing because if I ask Grace if she knows who kidnapped her, she will obviously say no as she cannot remember him, but she will be showing me that she lying because her brain knows, the part of the mind that controls the gifts knows, but it's been masked to the conscious so whilst Grace doesn't know, her mind does, so it says she is lying. It's the same with Luke, if I ask him does he know why he attacked Grace a few nights ago, he will say no because he doesn't know why, but his brain does know why and can acutely remember why, but he cannot recall it so Luke isn't lying, but it's reading as a lie,' Theo said, sitting on the bed. I frowned.

'A paradox in your gift?' I asked.

'There's a few in a gift as subjective as mine,' Theo asked, smiling. 'But you did anomalistic psychology, you know the paradoxes.' I nodded – I learnt all the research done trying to find if people like me exist.

'So what was Markie lying about?' I asked him as Jack appeared to lose his ability to speak.

'I asked him if he knows the connection between Nikos and Callus, he said no. But it registered as a lie. Based on what else he told me, I think that he doesn't know the connection between Nikos and Callus because if he did, then the latter times he told them information would also be a lie as he would be doing it to hurt you. But it didn't. He honestly didn't know the connection, but I think somewhere in his mind, either Nikos or Callus has planted something there to make him a rat without him even knowing it. Protecting him and themselves,' Theo said.

'How do we stop it?'

'We find someone to remove it,' Jack sighed, one step ahead of us. 'Until then, he can't know anything about you,'

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Sorry for the short chapter, I just needed to clear some things up. On the last chapter, apart from one, all I had were extremely negative, hurtful and relatively pointless reviews saying my writing is awful, and I should just delete the book, and my uploading is awful and so on. I got told there were too much story line and not enough action, and no one cared about the characters.

I deleted them as they came in, but I got around ten all anonymous and this was extremely upsetting as you can imagine. At the moment, I'm not very well and i'm still in and out of the hospital with kidney issues and this wasn't exactly what i wanted to hear.

I have no issues with constructive feedback and I do appreciate what you are saying, but it really did upset me. I don't know if I want to continue if people are really this dispassionate about this book. That's why the short chapter, mainly to ask you if you want to continue reading? Is this as awful as everyone is saying it is? I don't even know. I wanted to just, give this up, but I owed it to the people who previously read it and thought it was good to ask if they still wanted to read it and if they still thought it was good?

So I suppose that's what I'm asking; do you think it's okay? I decided before this all happened and i put up the wrong chapter by mistake as i was in the hospital when that happened and was just exhausted and pressed the wrong tab, that the original plot went out the window and I knew what I wanted to happen. However, it would skip forward a bit more; the original story would happen over the beginning of the new year (this chapter took place two weeks before Christmas) however, it would take place in the summer months. I don't wanna say too much because spoilers - but what do you think?

I hope you understand what I am trying to say, and thank you.

(Also, side note, whatever happens, this chapter will be deleted and either replaced with one without the authors note or with the rest of the chapter)


	37. Chapter 37

**Thirty Seven**

The build up to Christmas was extremely stressful for everyone. Luke and I, along with shedloads of security, had gone back to Windsor the day after Markie's confession with Jack joining us. In the process, my new car – the exact same car as Luke's, a new style Vauxhall Corsa on the second newest number plate – was delivered in gun grey which we named Carl. Markie remained in police custody for four days until security had called over someone from the Savant Net who could remove the Savant parasites from the brain.

Every night, I sat down with Jack and kept telling him that it wasn't Markie's fault and it cannot ruin their relationship. Despite many arguments with my stupid brother, he eventually came around on the idea. I convinced him to see Markie and accompanied him down to the holding cell where his fiancé was staying. However, their relationship seemed okay and with some work and focus on building trust back up I knew they would be fine. I knew it would take a while for Jack to build up that much trust in someone again.

There was no new news on any security attacks towards myself and Luke or anyone – they had appeared to go cold turkey on us. But they never managed to find Callus either, but Nikos was found to be one of his close allies for years and when the warrant was sent to allow his arrest, surprise surprise, his address was empty and he too had gone on the run. However, as a precautionary measure, they were in the process of moving us to a secluded four bedroom house on the outskirts of Windsor, literally in the middle of nowhere, but even I had to admit it was beautiful. It was a mile down country roads, which was having a security barrier added near the front but away from the road so no one could see. Down even further, the lane split off into a large paved front, enough to fit several cars (including Ruby and Carl). Flower beds surrounded each side and large trees grew either side. The house itself was two floors and had a white-and-black theme across the front. A small porch shrouded the main door, with the walls each side white and a pointed roof with black wooden beams highlighted the upper floor.

Inside was a dream too - recently renovated; the kitchen was cream-on-white with black splattered white granite worktops and stone floor. The dining room, just down the corridor, had a similar theme, and the lounge was the next room down and took my breath away. It was so modern, despite the age of the building, and everything looked so clean. There was also a study downstairs as well as a toilet, before a wide staircase led to an upstairs with the four bedrooms either side of the landing, the bathroom just in front of the stairs. Whilst I had gently mumbled to Luke that four bedrooms were excessive and he told me that they were looking for the house as a long term fixture for us and within ten years would four bedrooms still be excessive? I couldn't overly argue. It was a lovely place and the deposit was put down and the moving date was the end of January, giving enough time to build the security around the main access to the house and add the fences around the 4 acres of land that accompanies the house.

Luke had returned to university the Monday after the incident and everyone seemed surprised as he walked into the class with me trailing behind him. Shy and not knowing anyone we both sat down in the top corner as people took photos. However, by the end of the week and with his first shift as a trainee paramedic over he was a lot calmer. His natural charm and friendliness showed him off well and he met two guys and a girl who I could tell would become his close friends; Daniel, Jake and Gemma. All of them were in his class and none of them seemed to care too much that he was Royalty but immediately included him and photocopied their notes for assignments to catch him up. They even asked if I was okay after everything that happened and if I needed anything I could always rely on them.

Three days before Christmas, the annual Royal family Christmas dinner was held and I awkwardly got ready in the same room as Luke and neither of us could tell who was more scared. It was a white tie event and I was in a lovely long ballroom dress but I had never felt more uncomfortable in my life. My biggest fear was being judged and I knew that this was the time to be judged by everyone. Caroline sent beauticians and hairdressers to my old living quarters to help me get ready as Luke watched with a small, amused smile as I got waxed, plucked, moisturised and pampered to near enough picture perfect perfection. I felt incredible and horrible at the same time. As Luke and I took a quick selfie which would no doubt end up on Instagram, I couldn't help but think that I looked pretty decent for once. My hair was in a nice up-do in a bun-like ring which had small gems in it and the odd strand falling down in curls, with eyebrows in perfect shape and filled in, makeup literally flawless making my face look slimmer and eyes bigger. But this was the first time I would be introduced to anyone outside Luke's immediate family who were all used to being perfect and having lavish etiquette. I had a few lessons here and there and was just told to follow Luke's lead, but I knew I would be judged.

But no one did judge me. All of Luke's family just accepted me immediately and I knew they had known about our relationship for a while but none of them mentioned anything nasty to me and they all seemed fairly alright.

The biggest gossip, though, wasn't our baby which Luke announced at the dinner to everyone's happiness and my slight embarrassment at being the centre of attention, but rather the news of Caroline's divorce to Edward.

It had been a long time coming, and Caroline admitted she had started the proceedings within the month after my kidnapping when he showed to his wife he wasn't there when the family needed him to be. She announced it to Luke and Theo and me as the court announced the first prior bit of the divorce had successfully gone through but no one seemed too shocked. Everyone knew it was coming. Edward had reportedly moved back to Italy where his brother had moved too, but no one cared too much. He didn't bother contacting his two sons or me no more, so we were all perfectly happy.

Christmas was lovely; with no need for massive family meals or any pressure of socialisation, Luke and I woke up happy in Windsor castle by ourselves, and despite us telling each other we won't buy presents, there was a fair few wrapped up gifts under the tree. However, I learnt quickly Luke couldn't wrap presents. He had tried, though, and you could see the effort he put into them, but they looked pretty shoddy as best. But it was the thought that counted. The gifts itself was more jokey, with a lot of maternity clothes, as well as sensible as I brought Luke a shit tonne of stationary and university textbooks. However, Luke had gone out his way and got the baby some presents too, including some more toys, adorable Disney-themed baby clothes and some of the essentials. We called up Theo, Jack and Caroline and wished them a merry Christmas, before cooking a fairly rudimentary Christmas dinner which still tasted decent – although nothing could beat the meal cooked by the professionals – before we sat down with alcohol-free champagne in front of the TV for the Queen's speech – a tradition going back years. Every Christmas, my family used to sit around the TV after our meal and watch the speech. It felt weird that now I was practically related to those involved. We watched Caroline speak fluently about morals of the world and the focus we need as a country to unite us together and so on, but when she said "we need to prepare for our families to grow within the next year" in reference to the economy or something, Luke nudged me and told me she included that about our little nugget.

Shortly after that, the preparations for the New Year's party at Buckingham were in full swing and when we arrived on New Year's Eve at stupidly early in the morning, all the preparation was already done and the main hall smelt incredible with the aroma of spices. This party was a bit more relaxed thankfully and I wore a mid-thigh length black pinafore-styled stress with thin straps and a white knit cardigan over the top, and Luke wore a black shirt, white waistcoats and straight-pressed trousers. We had our photos taken at the entrance by Alison, who managed to take photos that completely hid my developing bump thanks to a flattering colour and a flattering angle too. Midnight hit as I was stone-cold sober and was potentially the only sober person in the room, and I didn't even realise it was midnight until Luke kissed me passionately before whispering some soppy shit that didn't even make sense. But I smiled as I saw Markie and Jack in the corner kissing only slightly. I was extremely relieved that the guy managed to remove the parasite from Markie and he was completely safe now and was no danger to himself, my brother of myself. Knowing he was back to his old self, Jack had moved back into their small house which had gone on the housing market, ready for them to move too.

Everything after January went in a flash, though. Luke had returned to his university within the first week of the new year to sit the assignments and exams he missed within the November and passed them all with a high 2:1 and in some cases as first, allowing him to continue his modules in his final year. I had been barred from taking him down as Palace security wanted "real security" with him at the university campus now and I had continued my own work reluctantly for Kieran now. Thankfully, with the commissioned case against Callus being conducted, I was moved off the case that was focusing on myself and Luke as key individuals at play and onto some other related incidents involving extended members of the Royal Family or upper-class Lords which gave me something to do in my free time.

Both I and Luke had fallen into a routine; every Monday and Wednesday we would be up at half five, shower and get ready. Luke would leave with security at half six to make it to the University of Surrey in time for his nine o'clock lecture and I would head to the room that had been changed into a study for me within the castle and work on the cases I had, reviewing CCTV of the area and so on. Tuesday's was Luke's days off, and therefore so was mine, and every Thursday and Friday he would do trainee paramedic shifts – long twelve hour days with no break which normally ran into the night and finished at one in the morning. I could never settle down until I knew he was back home, safe, and I could only put it down to the effects of my parent's crash, so I either continued working or done housework or read _yet more bloody books_ on pregnancy that everyone had started to give me. More often than not, Mycelia and Sara would come around and stay with me. They were both extremely shocked when I told them about the baby but were incredibly supportive and I felt bad for near enough ignoring them for the first six weeks I had met Luke. But they forgave me, telling me I had a lot on, and we were back to our normal selves, happily gossiping and eating food.

The last Tuesday in January, we went for the twenty-week scan of our little nugget where they confirmed our baby was a little girl, not that we were surprised or anything, and confirmed that everyone was also perfectly healthy. Somewhere around the eighteen-week mark, I had started to get a bit _bigger_ and hardly anything fitted anymore. You could start to see the bump through my clothes, my jeans no longer done up and I found myself wearing a lot of clothes that belonged to Luke. Thankfully, my friends had me covered and done Massive maternity clothes shop for me so it wasn't in the public eye and delivered it to me one night so at least now I had clothes that fitted me, as some of the ones I had got from Luke at Christmas were on the snug size as he wasn't too sure what he was looking for. But it meant, until officially announced, I wasn't really allowed outside which suited me fine.

We got our moving date on the 12th February and already was told to not worry about decorating or anything or setting up furniture as everything had already been done for us, hence the later moving date, so all we had to do was pack the cars and head over to our new house ten minutes away and unpack our clothes, books and other miscellaneous bits and bobs we had collected – so it was no wonder why it went smoothly. In preparation for the end of June, we picked out a room we decided we wanted for the baby's nursery – we decided not to think about names until a few weeks before, and with no one else knowing the gender of the baby apart from us two, it worked out pretty well – and whilst Luke was on paramedic shifts, I started to decorate the room.

Eventually came the time for us to tell the media and the world. It had come to a stage where the bump wasn't easy to hide at all and even in my baggiest maternity top, the second it was warm or there was some wind and it stuck to me it was clear as day I was pregnant.

It was the 28th of February and I remember Luke being so scared he was pacing the room as I was trying to go to sleep. Having decided to tell the World a week before my twenty-first birthday, and three and a bit weeks before Luke's, we hoped our birthdays would draw away from the publicity of the baby. Luke had left it last minute as always and got a call from Caroline saying the official statement from Buckingham Palace announcing the baby was ready to be sent, but Luke wanted to do it his own way as per the norm.

'There is just so much pressure,' he told and I raised an eyebrow in bed, not that he can see.

'Yeah, must be so hard for you,' I sighed dramatically, my voice dripping with sarcasm as Luke sighed. I pulled myself up to sit with a slight struggle before frowning at him. 'Look, you have the picture, just write the due date and leave it at that!'

The picture in referral was the ultrasound at ten weeks old, where you could not tell the gender of the baby even if a midwife saw it, as it was too early on, and the scan was in a small yellow cardboard frame on top of a stack of folded baby clothes. Beside it was the toy elephant, the Converse crib shoes, and a Winnie the Pooh bib. It was an adorable photo that we were both really proud of (and should be, as it took bloody ages to take) but what took longer was the caption itself. Luke's Instagram had a massive following, in the millions, and he automatically shared the posts from Instagram to his official twitter and Facebook where it would reach a larger demographic within minutes. We knew as it was only ten o'clock, the newspapers would run the story on the next day's papers. I had told Luke to really mess with the newspapers and publish the story at 01:59 am as the cut off for news stories is 2 in the morning and watch all the newspapers meltdown as they couldn't cover hot news the day it was released. But I was called evil for suggesting that. Eventually, Luke decided on a very simple caption, tagging me in the photo and putting "coming 24th June" with some emojis at the end, before posting it, turning his phone off and falling asleep next to me within the hour.

The next morning, unsurprisingly, we were _everywhere._ Every news channel had it as a top headline, it was trending on all social media, and we couldn't escape ourselves. Overwhelmingly, people were happy for us. But there was a few thousand who were completely pissy about everything; that we weren't married, we were young, this kid would be third in line to the throne and would be born a "bastard" as angry people revert back to Victorian English when angry, and we were sponging off our parents, blah blah blah. But soon, after the middle-aged keyboard Mums have had their debates if we were too young to have a baby, and after Luke and I having a good old troll at some people on twitter, calling them out on what they were saying, the news died down and we were able to get on with our lives.

My birthday came and passed without any massive celebration as I was never really the go out and get pissed party girl type. My family came around within the day with presents and we went out for a nice meal, with my limited family on one side and Luke's immediate family on the other and everyone got on brilliantly. Luke's birthday was, as tradition demanded, to be held in the Palace where the majority of blue blood was invited, as well as family friends, friends of Luke, celebrities and other Lords and Ladies, so we were both thankful for one of our birthdays being a quite event.

It felt like we were a normal couple at last. Our routine worked lovely and Luke started his dissertation come the second week in March of the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in paramedics. One of his modules he didn't need to go to anymore so we both sat down and worked on his dissertation, and I helped with the reading and phrasing of the 15,000-word dissertation. Eventually, Luke brought home some friends and we all got on infamously.

Luke's massive party was incredible and I met more people who treated me like a close friend rather than an outlier and I came to accept that it was the norm to be treated like family once everyone knew I was with Luke; it was just Edward's sour reaction that had put me off.

At the end of March, Luke was assigned to his co-worker until he finished his degree and then potentially onward – a man in his early thirties called Liam. He was also a Savant, apparently, and didn't treat Luke especially just because he was the Prince, and never bother with the whole "your Royal highness" thing, so of course they got on well. Liam had met me and was incredibly nice. He came over one day unannounced to drop off some stuff to Luke and found me in my pyjamas inside. Luke invited him and Liam sat down and told me all about his family, his two sons and his wife, and his weird next door neighbours with the dog that likes peeking over the fence. I knew from that second Luke was assigned to the right paramedic and they would get on infamously.

As the weeks went on, my bump grew which pissed me off to no end. I had hoped and prayed I would be one of those girls who remain tiny, able to fit into their previous sizes and looked decent when heavily pregnant. I looked like I had been hit by a truck, thrown into a prickles bush and then half drowned in a river every single day. Luke insisted to me I looked fine and was really sweet to me but everything anyone was doing was really starting to annoy me.

'You've only got, like, a month to go,' Luke said as he gently lay beside me in bed. It was May 28th, he had handed in his dissertation and his final exam was yesterday but he decided to keep on doing the part-time paramedic shift work. However, we were both extremely confident he has smashed his exam and dissertation and would be able to graduate in the autumn. Kieran had suggested I went on early maternity leave as I was becoming way too distracted to focus on anything else.

How did pregnant people work up until the last few days?

'I'm aware of that,' I breathed at him and he smiled gently but I knew I was pushing him places too. 'Sorry,' I said, tearing up. He rolled over and hugged me.

'It's okay, sweetheart, it must be tough,' he said, hand over the bump that I didn't even bother attempting to hide anymore. A heatwave decided to hit, causing temperatures of mid-thirties and even lounging around in next to no clothes didn't help. No position I sat in was comfy. I could barely sleep from how uncomfortable I was. I was just a whining sack of shit. 'You still want to come up to Buckingham with me next week?' He asked gently.

There was a string of charity events that I had opted out of, not wanting to show myself in public when I felt like a cow. Caroline understood, knowing the pregnancy had taken an unexpected twist in my self-values and whilst everyone talked me out of it, saying I looked "glowing" or "incredible" and I replied back saying I was incredibly miserable and self-loathing and that "glow" was the constant sheen of sweat I had on me, I politely refused the offer. Staying in an air-conned room alone where nakedness was acceptable watching Netflix all night seemed delightful. Being judged in a room of seven hundred at a charity auction didn't.

'Mmm - you sure Caroline doesn't mind me just staying in our room constantly?' I asked him.

'She understands, she went through two pregnancies from Hell with me and Theo, remember, she knows exactly what you are going through, she's not judging,' Luke said softly.

'Are you judging?'

'No, I can see how much discomfort you are in,' He whispered.

'So that's two people on my side,' I gently sighed. I knew Theo was constantly questioning why I wasn't going to events as it was now "event season" and Jack and Markie were asking why I wasn't myself or coming around more often. I know I should be happy and bounce around but it was just _Hell._ That, alongside the consistent monitoring the midwives were doing. Once every two days they would come around, check my blood pressure and heart rate and then they would do the babies just to make sure everything is okay. Everyone was clearly worried the stress from the kidnapping and the threats we had in winter would take the toll on me now. But thankfully everything seemed okay for once. Thank God for that. But it made me feel like a prisoner in my own home, unable to escape without security asking me what I was doing, or the midwife expecting a full account of what I was doing without being judged. I went for a walk in the midday heat? That's not good for you or the baby. You had a nap? We need to monitor you even closer. It was getting stupid.

'Grace, we don't know what you are going through. You are the first person close to Jack, Markie and Theo who have had a baby, they are still learning just as much as we are,' Luke said softly.

'Can we get out? Please?' I asked and he nodded.

'Where do you want to go?'

'Anywhere that's not in this house – can we just walk in the Gardens?' I asked and Luke nodded, and I knew he was mildly thankful I was finally getting off my arse and doing something rather than moping around.

'As much as I would love you too, you can't go out like that,' Luke whispered, kissing my neck and I grimaced. That means putting on clothes. Reluctantly, I got up like a beached whale and pulled on a stretchy vest top with spaghetti straps and a pair of light fabric shorts – not the best look ever created but one that was mildly comfortable and not heavy to walk in. Luke, who was in knee length khaki shorts and no shirt just shrugged and nodded, taking my hand before leading me out the house.

We were about an hour into our little walk around the gardens, barely covering a kilometre as I kept waddling along in the shade. It wasn't my best achievement but I was amazed I was still going considering I couldn't see a foot in front of me. But a large Jeep pulled up beside us and Luke stopped walking, pulling me to a stop and his arm went from around my waist to my shoulders as he sensed danger.

'Your Highness,' Alexander, the chief security guy, got out the car and bowed.

'What's happened?' Luke asked.

'There has been intelligence source come in suggesting an attack on both of you, sir,' Alexander said quickly as both Luke and I froze. We made it five months without anything, and suddenly they had intelligence sources.

'Sir, where did these sources come from,' Luke replied back quickly to him.

'Anonymous messages on Miss Williams's old mobile phone, sir, they were running them at the Centre and declared it a code red threat,'

Luke looked at me with massive eyes. We knew what that meant – near enough certain probability of something happening. The only code above code red was code Black, which would be activated if something ever happened to us. Luke was clearly calculating what to do and how to make everything all good but this was beyond his skill set as a paramedic. I frowned, trying to work out what could have happened.

It had to be a genuine threat to get through the commissioned MI5 investigation to find Callus and his merry men – but to text my old phone? Anyone who had been watching me knew my phone was upgraded twice within the last five months due to leakage of my number to the media. So, they were either watching us and knew my phone was in the hands of MI5 to be monitored or weren't watching us at all.

Callus isn't stupid – as much as it hurts me to admit it. I wanted to admit it, tell everyone it was just a stupid fame-hungry kidnapper but it wasn't. It was so much more than that. He knew what he was doing. Hell, he had been doing this for years. I wasn't the first person to be kidnapped by him and most likely won't be the last either. So, he was closely monitoring me somehow and knew my phone was in the Centre, a military intelligence hotspot. And he waited until I was heavily pregnant before throwing this into the mix when we couldn't just up and leave, or when I couldn't run away.

'What are you proposing, Sir?' I asked Alexander.

'Her Majesty Queen Caroline has requested both yourself and Prince Luke to Buckingham Palace immediately, with supplies for the next month at least. They are sending in a chopper at oh-two-hundred hours to get you two back to Buckingham Palace immediately. They are sorting a plan from there,' He informed us.

'Very well, then, May you give us a lift back to the house?' Luke sighed. Alexander nodded curtly before holding open the back doors to his Jeep where we climbed in.

 _Next month?_ Luke huffed, upset.

 _Might just be a maximum time frame, Luke, I doubt we will be over there for a month._ I told him, holding his hand.

 _I hope not._ Luke sighed and I knew he was pissed.

 _For our own safety, Luke._

 _Well, how haven't they caught him yet, Grace?_

 _It's harder than it seems._ I mumbled to him telepathically knowing full well that it was. It was part of the job that I do and it could take me weeks to find a guy who was only mildly involved in a crime. But Luke remained quiet, thoroughly pissed off, as we drove back to the house.

He carried on sulking his arse off like a kid as we packed up our bags for a potential month stay in Buckingham Palace. We both piled clothes neatly into large 34-inch suitcases provided to us by security, with a case between us for other toiletries, essentials, books and shoes. As Luke went to go and sort out some paperwork with the security lads, I wheeled in the final suitcase into the nursery room which had already been perfectly finished off. On the walls was a painted jungle theme, mainly in oranges and greens to keep with the gender neutral. A cot was in the far corner, a plush chair was in the other corner with a cushion and a selection of soft toys currently sitting on it. Next to it was a fully stocked changing table and another bookcase by the corner by the door. There was a large white-wash wardrobe in the corner that was already fully stocked too, much clothing as gifts from family, friends and extended family friends who even Luke didn't know about. I opened the suitcase, before taking the new-born clothes from the wardrobe and packing them in neatly, followed my nappies and other essential toiletries just in case. I really hoped it didn't come to it, but I was too scared not to pack anything just in case the worst came and I gave birth in Buckingham Palace – something I knew would be a running joke for years.

I didn't even notice I was standing in the room, staring at the cot, until Luke came in and wrapped his arms around me, kissing the crown of my head before leaning his cheek against it.

'Sorry I left you,' He whispered and I shrugged. 'I was just pissed off we had to move this close to the due date when it could potentially hurt you or our nugget,' He mumbled, kissing my neck.

'I'll be fine, I'd rather us be safe,' I told him.

'We will be fine, Grace, I promise you now.' Luke said, letting go of me before kneeling in front of me and adding some of the crib shoes and scratching mittens that I had laid out on the floor into the suitcase, before zipping it up.

'You can't promise things like that,' I told him.

'I can,' Luke said. 'Come on, let's just sign the paperwork and wait for our helicopter,' He sighed, dragging the suitcase behind him. Irritated that he didn't see what I was on about, I followed behind him mutely.

The helicopter landed at exactly two in the morning, much like Alexander had said, and I shrouded a yawn with the back of my hand as it landed, having only just woken up from my nap. We stood outside in only thin clothes – the temperature still in the high twenties at the coldest point of the night – as security passed the suitcases in before offering a hand for both of us to get in. Luke helped me up as I sat down beside him, leaning my head against him. There was another security bloke, I guess, who offered Luke a headset before showing me one. I frowned at him, rubbing my eyes as he smiled gently, leaning forward and putting in over my ears.

'She's just woken up,' Luke said to the guy via the headset, but it wasn't an apology. Just an explanation.

'I don't blame you, it's been a long day for you both, your Highness, Miss Williams.' The guy said. 'I'm Marius, I'm the head of the security department who will be dealing with the security case and the communications with you,' He said. 'My job is to keep both you and the baby alive, safe and well and keep you fully updated with developments into the investigation. I won't hide anything from you, and will give you the full brief each morning or anytime we get a development,' Marius said.

'Thank you, sir,' Luke replied back from both of us as the helicopter took off.

'Miss Williams, you can go back to sleep now if you wish,' Marius said. I frowned at him. He seemed way too nice to be security. 'I have a wife who is pregnant,' He explained sensing my hesitation. 'I know how tired she is, I know it's not professional of me, but that's how I got to where I am in my job today – a mix of reality with the professionalism,' He said before looking out the window. Luke nodded.

 _Have you seen him before?_

 _Yeah,_ Luke replied, _if I remember correctly he joined MI5 as part of the school leaver's programme about ten years back. He is very good at his job because he doesn't look at just the case and what to do, but he looks at it morally as well. I'm surprised you haven't worked with him yet._

 _Kieran keeps me locked up and away from the lads, remember?_ I told him as I leant against him. His arm automatically wrapped around my shoulders and he gently kissed the crown of my head. _Can't have females working with males._

 _You're kickass enough on your own, sweetheart._ Luke told me.

 _Apparently not kickass enough to keep this threat off our tail, though._

 _You cannot blame yourself for this, Grace, it's happened only within the last day, hasn't it? You weren't even in our case. You were doing all other weird shit._

 _I just feel like it's my fault, Luke, the only thing I wanted to do was to protect you and our nugget and now look what's happened. We're being taken back to Buckingham because I wasn't able to protect both of you._ I sighed.

 _Grace. None of this is your fault._

 _I know._ I curled into him but I couldn't help but think it was my fault. It sucks because I knew it wasn't my fault but I couldn't help but think it was. I kept thinking to myself over and over again that when we first got together, if I actually buckled down and worked hard and got to the bottom of the case that I was at Buckingham for in the first place (which wasn't sleeping with the Prince of England before slowing working it out and decided to date) that perhaps I would never have been kidnapped and none of this would have happened?

I had to try and still my mind as I pretended to be asleep, aware of the conversations happening overhead. There wasn't much conversation of any interest; the pilot kept us updated as we slowly came to land in Buckingham Palace, only talking to the co-pilot, and then the security filling in Luke about the security arrangements. Apparently, Caroline didn't know we were being brought in, and the same with Luke, to keep it as quite as it was possible. The security has been told as we were a few minutes away and were rushed into place. I knew from the reactions how serious this threat was.

'Grace, wake up sweetheart,' Luke whispered and I opened my eyes, squinting against the light that they had turned on in the helicopter. 'I would offer to carry you but I think those days might be behind us for now,' He said softly, kissing my forehead as I smiled slightly. He got out of the helicopter first, jumping down gracefully before offering me a hand. I got out nowhere near as gracefully, despite my name, and Luke had to stabilise me as I looked precariously close to falling over. I looked up at him, and his eyes were drilling into mine with a small frown and I knew he was scared. But he was on lockdown mode now, ready to act. His paramedic's face.

Security was around us immediately, some with guns and some in just uniform.

'We'll sort out your bags, just head inside for us,' Marius said to us and Luke nodded, thanking him before guiding me into the building. We were taken down a long corridor, up onto the first floor and into a large reception room – not the one used by the Royal family as that was the other side of the building, but one used for security briefings. I was very familiar with this room. Security waited outside and gestured for us to go in.

'Stay out here for a second, just going to double check everything is okay,' Luke whispered and I nodded, and he walked in, turning on the light. About a minute later, he came back out. 'I believe there is someone you want to see in here,' He said with a small smile, holding the door back. I frowned, edging through to see who he was on about.

On the other side of the room, in pyjamas, Crystal stood nibbling the corner of her nail in a nervous gesture, before looking up at me with a grin. My mouth dropped – what the hell was she doing here? She ran over and awkwardly hugged me, spinning me around and wobbling

'Oh my God,' I whispered to her.

'You're immense Grace, Jesus, you are hella pregnant!' She joked.

'What are you doing here?'

'I got some time off work so I and Xav are visiting for the next six weeks,' She said and I tilted my head knowing she was lying. 'Okay that was a complete lie, we do have some work over here but we cannot tell you, unfortunately, but it should co-inside with the nuggets birth date!'

'Oh my God,' I repeated. 'Where's… Xav?'

'As if we could get out of bed this time in the morning,' Crystal joked.

'But no one knows we are here, how did you?'

'I woke up when the security alarm was called and asked what was happening. They told me you were coming with Luke and of course I had to come and see you.' Crystal said holding me at arm's length. 'You keeping well?'

'I've been a bitch to Luke,' I mumbled and Luke who had down on the sofa looked up.

'No you haven't,' Luke said gently.

'I have, I have been a right snappy bitch,'

'Grace, if you didn't notice, you're thirty-five weeks pregnant, I think we will let you off,' Luke said to me gently, cocking his head with a small smile on his face. I shrugged, tearing up though. I heard Luke sigh gently as he got up, putting his arms around my bust and rocking me gently as he kissed the top of my head. 'It's fine Grace, I got you into this situation, I can handle you in it. It's understandable. Just – try to keep your chill a bit more with me and we'll be fine,' Luke said, kissing my temple.

'See, you lovebirds are all good now!' Crystal said with a grin.

'So what work are you doing here? Cause I had literally no idea you were here,' Luke asked Crystal and she shrugged.

'Nothing much,'

My teeth started to ache. 'Crystal…'

'I can't tell you two! I really can't – just trust me when I say I'll be around for ages. We're not staying in the same corridor though, we're on other sides of the building and we can't use telepathy because of the risk, but if you need us text us and we will be with your right away,' Crystal said.

'Thank you,' I whispered.

'Anytime, Gracie,'

'Your Highness, Miss Williams and Miss Brookes,' Kieran said coming into the room again. I immediately frowned at him – I knew very well he didn't like me anymore as I was a headache for him work wise but they couldn't just sack me off and I was turning out to be a very valuable asset both security wise and work wise. My gift meant I was one of the fastest linking all the different assets of a case together to make a case and finding leads what would have taken other units months to find in only a few hours. Not only that, as I was certified security, it meant that Luke could go out the house with me as his security guard and it would be completely fine. So, for now, I was way too precious to be sacked.

'Thank you for coming so promptly,' Luke said curiously in this Prince voice, the one used to thanking people in charity speeches or at benefits, the type he would use when talking to people of no interest to him but the interest of political politeness. But you could tell he wasn't thanking him in a gracious way, but more in an I-have-too-thank-him way.

'No problem, Miss Brookes, if you wouldn't mind I need to talk to His Royal Highness and Miss Williams by themselves,' Kieran addressed Crystal and she looked over at me.

'Yeah, alright, I'll go back to bed. See you two tomorrow morning,' Crystal said, quickly hugging me and Luke before leaving the room, closing the door on the way out.

'What's actually happening then, Sir?' Luke asked as he gestured for us to sit.

'An unknown number text your old phone, Grace, threatening both you, Luke and the baby. It stated your location was in Windsor, although I think quite a few members of the public know that, and some other details. We traced it back to another burner sim and this sim card was purchased in California Bay, Norfolk, and we decided it was legitimate enough to bring you here. We're looking into it, tracking down CCTV footage and so on, and once we know you are safe we will take you back down to Windsor. You shouldn't be here more than a week,'

A week? I knew in that week there were three charity events which I planned to miss, and we were planning on staying here for a few nights anyway to make it easier to have a lay in. Luke had the week of work until Friday night when he had a ten-hour shift from four in the evening until two in the morning so it didn't affect this work schedule either. It wasn't like I had any other plans apart from sitting around moping and at least some rooms in Buckingham had air conditioning too. So it was alright. As long as it didn't go over that week and we could get back and settled before our baby was due, then it would be fine.

'Okay,' I said and Luke nodded. 'I assume it's being investigated heavily?'

'Correct,'

'Need me to do anything?' I offered.

'No – we've already discussed this Grace. You are on maternity leave,' Kieran said. 'We will leave a note with your brother and your mother, Luke, saying you have arrived here with Grace and once they are awake we will fill them in on what has happened. Your suite has been prepared for the both of you, your luggage has already been taken up there.' Kieran said. 'Goodnight, your highness, Grace,' He said before walking out the room.

'Moody little bastard, isn't he?' I mumbled and Luke laughed.

'Bed, now, before you turn into a moody little bastard too,'

I had only been into Luke's Princes' suite once and was amazed the first time around. Now, however, it was incredible. The idea was similar to what the designers had set up in Windsor for Theo and Luke. Once the boys were old enough, they wanted to provide a bit of independence and not reply on the cooks and maids to do everything, so they got a suite that had everything fitting to a small house. Luke's suite, however, was very minimalistic with wooden floors, grey feature walls downstairs and upstairs in the two bedrooms he had, the feature walls were zigzags – a blue-green in his room and a dark blue in the other. Everything was pretty minimalistic as Luke hasn't stayed here much. Before he was deployed, he stayed mainly in Windsor during term times as it was an easier commute to university and only came back during the holidays. There were a few relics of his childhood on the walls – puzzle globes, photo albums, DVD's and CD's covered in dust.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, already changed into pyjamas as I walked Luke unpack the suitcases. The suitcase with all of the baby stuff was tucked in the corner, ready to be taken back down to Windsor to our place at the end of the week.

'How serious do you think this is, Luke?' I asked him gently and he looked up at me for a second.

'I think it's serious enough to get us moved over here. But I don't think it's something we need to worry about too much. I think, partially, it's because it's been quite for so long then this comes up when you're heavily pregnant, they needed to take extra precaution,' Luke said to me gently and I nodded, covering my yawn with my hand. It had turned half three in the morning. 'Fuck it, unpacking can wait until morning,' Luke said, before climbing into his side of the bed. He tapped my side. 'Climb on in then,'

I did as he said, lying on my side as he spooned me, his arm around my bump and his hand resting on top. He kissed the side of my head.

'This will work out fine, Grace,' He mumbled to me but I didn't reply terrified of all the things that could go wrong. 'I'll keep you safe.' Yet another hollow promise – these people were powerful, and won't stop at any costs. 'Although, I have to ask you for a favour,' He mumbled and I rolled over awkwardly.

'What's up?'

'Well, now we're here even though it's against our wishes, and you don't have anything to do,' Luke said sweetly, resting his forehead against mine. 'Please come to my charity event,' He mumbled.

The charity event was the middle event of the three in the upcoming week; we had the weekend then Monday was a silent auction for a childhood active fund, Theo had an event Wednesday night for Cancer Research UK. Luke's advent for Mind UK was on Tuesday night down in the main hall and was completely sold out. I know he was planning it but didn't want to include me in it too much as I suggested I didn't want to go anywhere when I looked like a shelf. The other issue was travelling up to Buckingham but I guess I was here now…

'But Luke,' I mumbled and he kissed me gently, shutting me up before I started. He pulled away a minute or two later.

'I know you don't like how you look at the moment, but you're still absolutely beautiful. Okay, yeah, your bump has got huge compared to what it was in December but that was to be expected. You are still my beautiful girlfriend who's pregnant with our first child, people know that now Grace. They won't judge you or make you feel uncomfortable because it's a part of life. Everyone in that room is a child of someone, and they will know someone who has been pregnant, or is pregnant or has been pregnant themselves. Please, Grace, I want to show you off once last time as the only girl in my life,' He whispered and it took me a moment to realise what the latter meant – he meant before our daughter was born and he could show both of us off together. I blushed gently. 'Please, Grace,' He whispered.

'I don't have anything to wear unless I can wear pyjamas,' I told him and he smiled.

'I'll find someone to fit you with a dress if you promise to go,' He said with a cocky side smile. 'You'll look beautiful even if you do rock up in pyjamas,' He said with a more genuine smile. 'Hell, you'll look stunning if you turn up naked but I don't want anyone else seeing that,' He kissed my forehead. Thankfully, I managed to stop the stretch marks with bio oil the second I reached the second trimester but still had stretch marks everywhere else apart from my bump but they had become a part of life. Everyone has marks like stretch marks. It's nothing massive. I sighed – I realised being pregnant was nothing massive either. Most people go through it and they don't hibernate away from everyone else – so why should I?

'Fine,' I said and he kissed me sharp.

'Thank you, Gracie,' He whispered gently. 'Get some sleep now,'

I rolled back over and he resumed his spooning position but as he fell asleep pretty quickly, my mind was running around all over the place. Why did it have to happen to us? I know it's because of my family and Luke's family and knowing we were together which gave them a golden opportunity but why did this threat have to come up so close to the due date? I know it was a month away but a month wasn't that long, really, considering I was hired six weeks before the kidnapping to investigate the threat that was probably against Luke and myself to start with. I didn't want to risk our daughter, bringing her into the World where kidnapping and death threats from Callus were the norm. But I didn't have a choice – unless I did have a choice. And that choice was to stop him for good.

I wasn't a murderer. But if Luke or my daughter was in grave danger it would be on the cards. Of course, just finding where he was and locking him up for life in a Savant prison so he couldn't escape but that was not likely to happen.

Why couldn't this relationship between me and Luke just be plain sailing?

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Hello

Thank you so much for reviewing all those lovely messages - they all mean the world. Here's a really long chapter - I decided to skip it forward to May the year after the previous part of the story and have changed the story line slightly to fit in with what will happen. I hope you enjoy this and please continue to review! :) x


	38. Chapter 38

**Thirty Eight**

The next morning I had woke up in bed alone. I was lying on my side, curled up, hand by my mouth as normal but Luke wasn't tucked up beside me like he normally was. It took me a moment to realise where I was – not at home in our bedroom, but rather in Buckingham Palace in Luke's small bedroom. It was clearly well looked after when Luke wasn't there – the floors were fluffy from constant hoovering and the room smelt clean and there was no dust to be found anywhere. Luke wasn't to be found anywhere either.

I awkwardly rolled over the bed and put my hand out to his side of the bed and sure enough, no one was there. Instead, a small paper note took his place. I frowned at the note before kicking the blankets I had straight jacketed myself in a panic thinking something awful had happened to Luke. I cannot remember the last time I woke up without Luke by my side. Even on his night shifts Luke would come in quietly, get changed and come and join me in bed so he's there when I wake up. I unfolded the paper quickly with shaking hands.

 _"Gone to breakfast with Mum and Theo, you seem deep asleep so I didn't bother waking you up. I shouldn't be too long. If you wake up, text me. Luke xxx"_

I took a deep breath knowing Luke was safe, and flinched when I realised how paranoid I am. The threat that was constantly looming near us, and yesterday just proved how unpredictable our situation was. We were dragged in here urgently, told to pack up and leave for a maximum of a month. They wouldn't have done that if we weren't safe where we were.

But there was nothing we could do about it – the threats were just pawns to be played. There was no way of telling if the threats were genuine or not so we had to react to them all like they were all genuine – we were letting him win with no alternatives. But it meant that we couldn't guarantee each other's safety. There was no way I could know if Luke was safe when he was on shift as a paramedic but I could only assume he was relatively safe as he was constantly moving and no one could really predict where he would be on a night shift.

It terrified me that something could happen to Luke when he was out on a shift and I would have no way of even knowing. The only way I would know how safe he was would be to hack into the files as my access had been revoked for the duration of my maternity leave and check what the threat was.

I sat up, yawning, before pulling out my phone and sending a very brief message to Luke telling him I was awake. He replied near enough instantly, inviting me to come down to the family room they always used to breakfast when I first got the job here and I got up and threw up a pair of maternity leggings and one of Luke's shirts from the side, quickly running a brush through my hair before tying it back into a neat ponytail, before leaving the bedroom. I waddled down the stairs, leaving the Prince's suite corridor and headed down to the breakfast room. It was about a five-minute walk and I caught the surprise on the faces of everyone who walked past me – so no one knew we were here like we were told in the early hours of this morning.

My plan for today was to go and find either Andrew or Kieran and ask them exactly what had happened, the threat and the write-up reports so at least I had a better idea of what was happening. Even if they denied, I knew the other security lads password in order to access the files and will go to hidden means in order to find out how much danger myself and Luke were in – and if we were in massive danger I will do anything to keep Luke safe. I will call in sick for him if I had too. I will order him to take early paternity leave.

The chances Callus would go back for me again was fifty-fifty. I knew he wanted me as he viewed me as a key to the Royal family and he now knew the extent they would go to get me back, and perhaps even more now heavily pregnant. But I wasn't exactly going out a lot more, and security was always around. Luke was much more accessible. But didn't they say the threat was against both of us?

Three security guards stood outside the door of the dining room, and all three of them seemed surprised to see me.

'Miss Williams, lovely to see you again,' The security guard said, bowing, but his name didn't come to mind. Timothy or something? Who knows.

'Hi, can I go in?' I asked.

'I'm afraid the room is currently occupied with Her Majesty, Queen Caroline and the two Princes at the moment,' He replied and I frowned.

'I know, that's why I'm asking to go in – to join them?' I asked confused.

'Miss Williams, we are unable to allow anyone in the room –' Potential-Timothy started saying and I huffed.

 _Luke, can you let me in? Mr. security guy isn't letting me in._ I told Luke telepathically and I heard a chair scrape back in the room. A few second later, Luke opened the door and flashed me a smile before turning on the security guard.

'She is allowed in, I did tell you to expect her,' Luke immediately said to the guard who bowed as he came out.

'Your Royal Highness, we were told by Kier-' His sentence was interrupted sharply by a mildly annoyed Luke.

'You know who she is, and you know she's not a security risk to herself or to me, don't let this happen again,' Luke said softly but assertively, moving aside to let me slip through. He gently grabbed me by the waist and closed the doors.

'Shit, they are taking this seriously,' Theo said, watching us both. Caroline tutted at him for swearing at the breakfast table.

'I know,' Caroline said. 'They're not even telling us what it's about – how are you doing, Grace?'

'I'm okay,' I said and both Caroline and Theo nodded but neither of them believed what I said – and in all honesty, I didn't believe what I said either.

Luke gestured to the chair next to his and I awkwardly sat down – the silence in the room heavy. Eventually, Caroline broke the silence.

'Heard you've changed your mind and you're now coming to Luke's event?' Caroline said sweetly to me but it was awkward. We were all trying not to mention what was on the forefront of our minds – the reason why Luke and I had been brought to the Palace in the early hours of this morning, with supplies to last a month. And how that month went over my due date.

'Er, yeah,' I said.

'She didn't have a choice. I begged her,' Luke added. 'Said I'd get someone to come and make her a dress. Sure it'll be easy to find someone,'

'I know some people who could do it in quick time, we've used them before.' Caroline added but the silence fell again.

'What did they tell you about the security threat, then?' Theo asked me.

'All we know is someone texted Grace's phone so they moved us here without telling anyone 2 am this morning,' I shrugged.

'Aren't you going to find out more?'

'They won't tell us more – but I could hack into the files and…'

'No,' Luke cut me off. 'Firstly, you're on maternity leave so no doing work, and secondly, because you are no longer working you'll get in serious trouble and probably get arrested if you do that, and thirdly they didn't tell us to keep us safe and away from harm. So… no,' He lectured me as he took a bite of his toast and I rolled my eyes.

The silence was heavy again.

And it continued like that through the weekend, not that we saw each other much. Luke and Theo had gone out on a royal duty of getting ready for the charity events. I spent the majority of the weekend with Crystal in Luke's room filling each other in, watching films, doing face masks and napping. Xav visited quite a few times as well but I found out Xav was the reason both of them were other here. But they didn't tell me anything more – Xav was out a lot of the time and Crystal just tagged along for the ride, explaining her presence.

'What's happened between you and Luke then?' She asked at ten in the evening on Sunday night. Luke hadn't come back into his suite yet but I knew he was in one of the rooms organising the charity event. Crystal and I stood in the bathroom, hair tied back with a range of potions and lotions in front of us attempting a "daily skin routine" we saw on Youtube. I rubbed in the foaming face wash.

'I wish I knew – he seemed a bit funny when the threat came in, apologised to me as we were packing our stuff and was completely fine until yesterday morning when Caroline mentioned the threat and I said I would try and look into it – to find out what was actually happening – then he got a bit shitty with me and hasn't really been the same since,' I huffed, taking a face cloth from the side and dampening it.

'You're both in this together,' Crystal sighed.

'I know, but I don't think Luke sees it like that. I think he sees it as just me that is in danger, not both of us.'

'No, I think he sees it as you and the baby are in danger. He wants to protect you, and therefore the baby, which is why he gets shitty with you the second you could get yourself into potentially more danger than you are already in,'

'I guess so… it makes sense… but then why would he ignore me? That is the opposite thing from keeping me safe,' I laughed under my breath as I wiped off the face wash.

'He is still a _boy_ Grace as if they use logic,' Crystal mocked. 'If he's still being a dick tomorrow night at Theo's event, I'll have proper words with him for hurting my cousin, and if he's still a dick, you need to show off that fancy flashy dress that lovely designer lady is making you and prove to him that you don't need his paranoia to be brilliant,'

'I do need him though,' I muttered.

'Yeah, of course, you need him, but you don't need his paranoia and especially when the baby is here and you're tired and worn down you'll be so much snappier and if he continues on like that, there will be murder. And I know you've planned a few good murders in that head of yours.'

Luke came into his suite at two in the morning, just sleeping in his boxers to save waking me as he changed, he climbed into the bed. I immediately rolled over.

'You still awake?' He mumbled.

'Obviously,'

'Crystal had words with me.' He said, looking into my eyes. I looked away from him tearing up. 'I had no idea I was pushing you away that much, I'm so sorry,'

'How did you not know, Luke, we've barely spoken and every time I've tried to speak to you, you reply in word sentences and you're never here,' I whispered back.

'In all honesty? I was scared that you were going to do something stupid and impulsive that would end up getting you hurt, or the baby hurt, or both of you hurt. What if you find out something that you didn't want to know – you couldn't go back to not knowing? What if Callus' plan was for you to find out, and when you did then he'll hurt us? It would explain why Marius hasn't told us anything else,' Luke mumbled. 'You always underestimate how much you mean to me, you are my world Grace. I can't do this anymore without you by my side. I don't know how I survived without you beside me before, but I can't do it without you anymore. And I couldn't raise our daughter alone either. I need you there,'

'You make it sound like I'd die,' I whispered.

'You nearly did die – the surgeons who dealt with you after you were kidnapped said it was fifty-fifty as to whether you'd live or not. Ask anyone who was around – they all know how much of a mess I was. I can't live without you so of course, I get annoyed when you say you'll do something reckless that could potentially put you back into that situation.'

'But, Luke, ignoring me for days on end is not the way to deal with that,'

'I didn't know how to bring it up without you getting pissed off,'

'So you decided to ignore me… which just upset me and pissed me off?' I sighed and he closed his eyes.

'I never meant to upset you, Grace,' He told me. 'All I ever wanted to do was to protect you,'

'I get that, but I just want to protect you and the baby - which is why I wanted to look,' I told him and he nodded.

'I'm sorry Grace, I didn't mean to overreact, push you away and upset you, I just don't want us getting into any shit now,' Luke mumbled. 'I'm sorry,'

I rested my forehead against his chin as I started to cry. 'Sorry,' I whispered back to him and he sighed, pulling me in for a hug. He didn't say anything more as he held me tight, gently trying to calm me down as I fell asleep still sobbing.

The next morning, Luke was still beside me as I woke up. I was laying on him awkwardly as he ran his fingers up and down my arm. It was extremely calming – half from the motions he was doing and the half from just knowing he's back with me again, and back to being himself. I could tell from the light through the curtains that it must be in the late morning. I felt refreshed for the first time in ages.

'You awake?' Luke whispered to me. I nodded, moving my head up to see him. He was reading a book, using his telekinesis to hold it above him as he continued to hug me. As I watched, he put the book down before kissing my forehead. His blonde hair was still incredibly fluffy and his eyes shone a bright blue as he frowned at me slightly. 'You don't look very awake,' He joked.

'What time is it?'

'Half one, you must have been shattered,' He said.

'How long have you been awake?'

'Since about eleven, so not too long,' Luke said softly to me. 'I still feel awful for –'

'Let's just forget about it,' I said and he nodded. 'Don't you have an event to get ready for? Some childhood active trust?'

'Thankfully, only takes me less than an hour to get ready, just throw on a suit or the service uniform and sash depending on the event – apparently, they don't like me wearing the paramedic uniform – and just have a shower and I'm good. It's you females that take years getting ready,' He smiled slightly. 'It's not too late if you want to come, Grace,'

'I'm coming to yours,' I mumbled.

'Just mine?' I hesitated before nodding. 'That's okay, they're boring anyway,' He whispered, kissing my forehead.

'Did you want me to come to any others?'

'Well, it would be nice to have you there so we can always leave early together, or so I'd have someone normal to talk to,' He whispered. 'But I completely understand, so don't worry about it,' Luke said. 'I believe they've made your dress for tomorrow already, they're fitting it when the auctions on tonight so you might want to shave your legs,' He mocked.

Sure enough, the dress designer named Melissa came around half eight that evening after she had finished her day at the office with two dresses over her arm – both were made for me and were shaped and fitted to fit my measurements perfectly. Afraid of being alone with Melissa, I invited Crystal up to the room where the dresses were being fitted – a simple white room with black leather furniture and some dressers. I couldn't remember why they had this room. I must remember to ask Caroline to take me around the Palace and explain the history of every single room as I didn't doubt how interesting it would be.

'So, Miss Williams, we made you two dresses so you can decide which one you like, any alternations we can do before tomorrow,' Melissa said, the two dress bags hanging up. She tutted nervously as I hugged myself self-consciously. 'Don't be self-conscious – you're positively glowing,'

I gave Crystal a look and she smirked as she sipped her champagne they had provided her.

'Yeah Grace that air of "I hate everything, get this baby out of me" really brings out your eyes,' Crystal mocked and I rolled my eyes at her.

'Can she wear the other dress tomorrow,' I asked Melissa and Crystal looked mocked offended.

'We should be able to take it in for Crystal, yes, let me just get my pins,' Melissa said, plopping out of the room on her stilettos. 'If I'm going down, you're going down with me,' I told her and she rolled her eyes.

'So dramatic, it's only a dress,' Crystal laughed as Melissa came back in.

'So, this is the first dress,' Melissa said comfortably and unzipped the dress bag. I know the dresses conformed with the black tie event code and was most likely on the upper end of the black tie formality scale – but the dress Melissa revealed wasn't me. In a pool colour, the dress had flower-patterned lace across the top and over the shoulders, was A-lined with a bateau neckline falling into pleated bust embellishing's before gathering into a three-inch-wide waistline and falling down to the ground. I must have pulled a face as Melissa hurried into action.

'No worries that were only the first one. I believe the second one might be a bit more… you,' Melissa said rushing over to the other bag. She unzipped it in a hurry, pulling it out and whilst I wasn't entirely sure on the design it was a hell of a lot better than the first dress. It was a sweetheart neckline with a long chiffon skirt in a nice blue colour. It had a ruched bodice over the boobs, but stopped sharply under the bust and flowed out nicely. 'I believe with a petticoat under, it will hold it out nicely,' Melissa said, trying to tell me subtly that the dress won't make me look huge.

'I'll try it on,' I whispered and Crystal nodded reassuringly at me as I awkwardly dropped the dressing gown and stood there with my arms crossed. Melissa helps the dress over my head, pulling it into place before gesturing me to hold the material over my boobs in place as she done it up. Melissa quickly got out a petticoat and helped me step into it, pulling it up to the bust so it flowed out nicely.

It was a beautiful dress and it covered the bump nicely; you could still easily tell I was pregnant but I didn't look stupidly pregnant. The colour was lovely too and the dress sat perfectly.

'Oh, Grace,' Crystal whispered. 'You look incredible – a right princess,' She whispered.

'Do I look okay?' I asked her and she nodded.

'You look bloody incredible, Grace,' Crystal said, 'Luke will love you in that,'

I looked at my reflection in the mirror and I agreed; I knew Luke loved this colour on me and tried to always encourage me to wear more blue day-to-day rather than the monochrome that dominated my wardrobe. I stood there staring at the dress as there was a knock at the door. Caroline let herself in and Melissa curtsied formally as she must have done hundreds of times before, and excused herself to the back room.

'Grace, you look absolutely incredible,' Caroline whispered.

'Thank you so much,' I said, tearing up, and I got down from the pedestal to hug her. Caroline had become so much more of a parental figure to me – she constantly looked after me, helped me when I needed it the most and cared for me like I was her own daughter.

'It's okay,' She hugged me back. 'You can have this room to get ready with Crystal tomorrow, there will be beauticians and nail technicians and so on, spoil and treat yourself one last time before you are a parent,'

'Thank you,' I repeated.

I went to bed shortly after taking off the dress and Luke joined me a few hours later in the early hours, taking off his suit and throwing in in a laundry bin before joining me in bed in just his boxers. The next morning, we slept in again until we were parted rudely by staff calling for Luke to come and set up. He kissed me gently telling me he would see me tonight before leaving the room. A few hours later and an extremely long bath later too, I was called down to the room the dress fitting was in yesterday.

Crystal was already there by the time I got down there, lying on the floor on her phone. Melissa was unable to attend and instead left the dresses with some chambermaids to help fit the dresses for us. The beauticians had their work cut out for me, shaving my legs, moisturising every inch of my body, buffing off dead skins and exfoliation, nose strips to pull out blackheads, hair masks to sort out the dead ends and hair mousse to hold my hair in place later on. The beautician's applied primer, toner, foundation, concealer, highlighter, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara and God only knows what else before sealing it all off with some setting spray. The hairdressers pinned back the front of my hair to the back and had the rest of my hair in elegant curls sweeping around the front of my shoulders.

Melissa managed to alter the other dress for Crystal to wear – and as she wasn't pregnant it involved taking in a hell of a lot at the waist but the dress suited her. She looked incredible.

Eventually, we were escorted down to the main hall where we were treated to canapes as we stood in the corner, eating food and laughing and taking photos. A few people came over to me, recognising me and having a few polite words but without Luke there as my conversation shield, the small talk died off and they got disinterested and left me alone.

Press walked around and soon, eight o'clock struck and the funny man in the funny costume started to announce the Royal family. Theo was introduced alongside his mother, and Luke was introduced last as it was his event. Looking good as always in his tails suit, he got half way down the stairs casually before he spotted me in the corner, and he stopped dead. The look on his face was incredible; a mix of shock, pride and amazement. I smiled gently, blushing as I looked at the floor. He gestured for me to come over as he reached the bottom of the floor and I did so. Luke kissed my cheek and hugged me as he whispered into my ear how beautiful I was.

The evening itself was lovely; everything went smoothly and benefactors and other rich people donated extremely generously to the charity before it finished around two in the morning. Luke didn't leave my side the entire night and held my arm in the correct etiquette way even as we walked into our own place.

'You need to wear that dress more often,' He said with a small grin.

The next morning, however, he was called away again to help Theo with his event and I was left to my own devices. Caroline had gone out on Royal duties, and even Xav and Crystal were away today to spend some time with Crystal's nieces and nephews in Southampton. With nothing to do with anyone, I decided to go for a wander.

Soon enough, I ended up outside the security headquarters within the Palace and found myself hesitating outside the door. I knew what Luke said to me – once I know how serious this threat was I couldn't go back to being ignorant. What if it involves the baby? I would be living in constant fear anyway. What if me finding out influences the events later? It's possible, yeah, but not massively realistic. They wouldn't know if I knew or not – there's no way of finding out if I knew or not. I remembered the passcodes of every single security guy who worked here so I could just use one of their passcodes to log into the files, check the threat and leave. No one would have to notice – right? And then if it was bad, I could convince Luke not to go to work until this is all over. I could try and convince him to take early paternity leave, to come and stay with me constantly until the baby is here. I can't have him at danger.

My job was always to protect him.

I owed it to him to do that.

Double checking the corridor, I typed in the passcode of one of the rookies there. 2819958972. The passcodes were randomly generated 10 digit numbers that don't change and are constantly allocated to you. The door unlocked itself and I snuck it. Knowing I didn't have much time, I jogged over to one of the computers, typing it in again to unlock the files. Sure enough, the documents manager all popped up and I checked out the most recently updated and found one under the name Operation Beaconsfield CR – and whilst the operation name meant nothing to me, I know the CR referred to Code Red which much refers to our case. I opened it up, typing in the passcode for the third time to gain access.

The paperwork was only around ten pages so it was only for the text messages only. I scrolled down through various type up of the reports and down to the evidence area to find out what the message said.

And I knew, in that moment, I wish I didn't.

 ** _Wouldn't it be a shame, Miss Williams, if I took your boyfriend and your baby from you? You'll never find out what had happened to them, they would just disappear from the face of the earth never to be seen again – but don't worry. I'd take good care of them for you. I just want to leave you like the broken, pathetic slut you are._**

/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\

I hid in my room that night as Luke got ready for the event but I was terrified. Callus wanted to take Luke and my baby away from me forever? That's what he implied. Hell no that's what he said. They would just disappear. Luke just looked at me weirdly as I sat there and begged him not to go to work the following day. He just assumed it was because I was getting clingy. He didn't suspect I would go behind his back to find out the threat. So he went to Theo's event all happy and so on, and I had around twelve hours until he left for his paramedic shift.

In those twelve hours, I constantly nagged him not to go to work. I told him I wasn't happy, I didn't feel like he was safe. I tried to call him in sick and he stopped me. I sat on the bed and watched Luke, frowning at him.

After I told him I wasn't happy with him going back to work with the threat he got shitty with me. He didn't say he was annoyed but it was so blindingly obvious. He was storming around the place with heavy feet, occasionally kicking something by accident and heavily breathing. He had already got changed into the extremely unattractive paramedic uniform; green combat trousers with pockets on the side, trainers, a green button shirt with the trust Crest on the corner and a fleece over the top. I knew he kept his high visibility bomber jacket at the office he goes to sign into before shift to keep his profile down low when driving to work.

'Luke, please don't go. Please.' I sighed. I knew he was meant to leave in the next few minutes. The car was ready to take him to the office – and I knew he wouldn't be back until the very early hours of tomorrow morning. His shift finished at one in the morning before all the drunks started coming out, but it took an hour to drive him back to London and then he'd have a shower before going to bed. 'Luke?'

'What, Grace?' He snapped, before closing his eyes.

'Why are you pissy at me?' I said, hand on my bump. I didn't have long to go – it was already the 5th June – so 21 days left. I hope it would hide what betrayal I had done to Luke finding those files. I hoped he would blame the fact I could now count down the days to go.

You're letting Callus win, Grace, the more time you spend paranoid and scared something will happen, the more time he sits there thriving knowing that he's done what he wanted to do and that ruined our lives,' Luke said simply, sitting down on the edge of the bed to tie his shoes.

'It is not safe,'

'How do you know what's safe and what's not Grace – you've been on maternity leave for a while now and you know nothing of this case.' Luke snapped and I met his eyes. He glared at me for a second before it clicked. 'You… do you know something of this case? You didn't look it up, did you? I told you not too. I made it very clear I didn't want you going into those files. But you couldn't even access them -'

'I hacked into the files,' I whispered with a strained voice. 'I wanted to know what kind of threat we were under,'

'You hacked into the files?' He shouted at me. 'What is wrong with you Grace? Why are you so paranoid! If anyone finds out about that you'll get fired and be charged with treason and entrapment – you know that!'

'Don't yell at me, Luke,' I sighed, rubbing my throbbing head.

'It's probably the only way to get you to realise how stupid you are!'

'Luke,' I whispered tears in my eyes.

'Did you find what you wanted? Is that why you're telling me to stay here?' Luke sighed. 'Or do you just want me to stay because you'll be lonely?'

'You know how serious this is Luke, they kidnapped one of us before they'll do it again,' I mumbled back and he shrugged. I knew they would do it again; it was on that message. They would take him and our baby. I tried not to cry at the thought.

'I'd rather it be me than you,'

'I'd rather you listen to what I'm saying, Luke, and have none of us kidnapped,' I said to him and he shook his head in annoyance.

'This is getting stupid, Grace –'

'I'm glad you see where I'm coming from, finally,' I said slightly relieved and he gave me a dirty look.

'No, you're getting stupid Grace. You know I love you but you're getting a right handful recently and I know it's because of the baby but you can't live in fear from now on in. I can handle myself whilst you can't so it makes sense for me to continue doing whatever I want to do to show that we aren't affected by this. So yeah, I'm going to go straight to work, do my shift, and come home and when I come home you'll be asleep as per the norm and hopefully, by then you'll realise how stupid and paranoid you are,' Luke said bitterly and I teared up.

'Luke,' I whispered, wondering if he realised how harsh his words were. He sighed.

'I'll text you when I get there but don't bother contacting me at all. I'm pretty sure tonight will be busy and I won't have time for your constant moaning,' He said getting up and walking out of the bedroom in a sulk. My mouth dropped but I still waited for him to come back, to realise what he had done wrong, for it to click in his head he was being irrational. I waited for him to walk back into the room, apologise, and to kiss me on the forehead like he normally does before leaving. But about five minutes are he stormed out, I heard the door slam shut.

Oh, my God. What had happened? We never fight like this. Sure we had our heated debates but Luke's never stormed out on me like that. He refused to go anywhere after the kidnapping without making sure I was okay to be left of my own and he would _never_ tell me not to contact him. But I knew it was him speaking. His passionate rage over Callus and his control he was exerting made sense with what he was saying. I knew he was scared. Anyone could see that but never had he been that angry. I wiped a tear away and realised I was crying.

I had made a massive mistake. I thought by looking I could try and protect Luke but instead I made it worse.

 _Luke, please._ I telepathically contacted him and true to his word, he blocked me out completely. I barely managed to finish the word "please" before I felt the barrier. He was closing me out. It felt like I had been shot again. Deciding to try my luck, I rang his mobile and went straight to answer the phone after the second ring so he rejected my phone call.

I got up and walked over to the window overlooking the middle of the Palace and managed to catch a sight of him; he climbed into the black Rover they had to escort him down, but he turned around to look at the window but there was no emotion there; no hint of remorse or wrongdoing. He was furious with me.

Annoyed at my boyfriend's stupid behaviour when he was in so much danger, I got up, planning on going out and raging to someone even though I knew Caroline was out today on Royal duties, Theo was at some benefactors he met at his charity event the night previous, and even Crystal and Xav were out until the early hours of this evening but got caught short.

There was an incredibly bad pain in my lower abdomen and it made me tense up and unable to breathe. It was like everything was – contracting. I looked up in shock as I realise what I thought.

Contracting? Shit.

This can't be happening.

I was never one to jump to conclusions (apart from with Luke) so I sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, taking deep breaths and having a few sips of my water. Ten minutes had passed and I assumed everything was okay, but it happened again but this time slightly more painful. I teared up at the pain. It only lasted for a few seconds before it passed and I knew what I had to do. I remembered in from the pregnancy book under the section about labour.

My phone lit up as I pulled it out of my pocket, but I ignored the text I had just got from Jack and opened the stopwatch app, pressing start as I sat there nervously, praying that this didn't happen. This couldn't be happening; my due date wasn't for another three-odd week. I was not ready. Nothing had been prepared. And Luke was out on a shift, unable to be contacted as he was ignoring me, and thoroughly pissed off with me. But it made sense; people always mentioned that they went into labour when extremely stressed. The pain happened again, taking my breath away as I curled up slightly as the watch hit the ten-minute mark.

I was in labour and had no one around me.

I didn't know who to call – I know Jack would just freak out and probably pass out and he would be no help what so ever and no one was around the Palace that I knew. I just wanted Luke here with me. I tried deep breathing and working out a plan. I was still in the very, very early stages of labour. I still had some time back. Caroline should be back by four this evening she said – which was only four hours away – and I could call her straight up to here. Meanwhile, I'll continue trying to contact Luke. If worst comes to worst, I can always get Caroline to contact Luke to get him here.

 _Please, Luke, I need you._ I begged him telepathically but nothing happened. The message bounced back.

I was completely alone when I needed him the most.

 **Luke's POV**

I waited in the changing rooms for Liam to get changed into his work uniform but I knew what was coming; I knew Liam knew how pissed off I was and I would end up getting a lecture from him.

And the worst thing was I knew how irrational I was being, and how horrible I had been to Grace but I was just so furious she was letting the people who kidnapped her, who caused her to near enough die in my arms, control her life. I was also furious she had risked herself a _gain_ to find out the paperwork on the case and she _knew_ how high-risk her pregnancy was and any stress could always make her go into labour in the best case scenario, or cause damage to our daughter in the worst case scenario.

That was the only reason I didn't full of flip out of her – I didn't want to be the one to cause her to go into labour early.

I rolled my phone over in my hand; I had loads of miscalls from Grace and a few text messages apologising, telling me to ring her **_URGENTLY_** but I ignored them. I knew she wouldn't stop. As harsh as I felt doing it, in a way Grace needed to know what she had done was stupidly dangerous and put her at risk. I hated doing it and I had the sense of guilt lingering but she needed to understand she had to be careful and sensible now. She couldn't keep doing stupid dangerous things like she did when she didn't know she was pregnant. Very soon we'd both become parents and we couldn't have either of us in danger when the little one was born.

Although I was fully aware of how little time we had left until our daughter was born in comparison to how much more we had yet to do. The room and everything is already done but was in Windsor where we would hopefully return to next week. However, the hospital bag hadn't been packed and we hadn't discussed names yet either. We said we would leave it nearer the time but he just ended up putting it off.

'Mate,' Liam said and I came back around from my daydream to Liam standing in front of me, fully changed and staring at me like I was some kind of idiot. 'You back to Earth yet?' He said and I nodded, shoving my phone in my trouser pockets. We took the equipment to load onto the paramedic van as we walked out. 'So, why are you so pissy?'

'I'm not,' I replied back and he laughed.

'Right, sure,' Liam said. 'That's bullshit when I hear it,'

'Grace,' I simply said.

'She wouldn't do anything to annoy you – so I'm placing my money on you overreacting,' Liam said and I sighed. Did I over react?

'No – no, you weren't there, how would you know?' I told him as we weaved through the corridors out into the ambulance bay. When we came in, they gave us the keys to Bettie – a paramedic van that we used near enough every shift.

'I don't have to be there, mate,' Liam said, walking backwards. 'She is the sweetest, most innocent woman you'll ever meet and you have the absolute privilege of calling her your Soulfinder,'

'Shh,' I said, looking around but there was no one around. He raised his eyebrows. '

'She dotes on you, Luke, she really does. She wouldn't do anything to hurt you intentionally. You know how hard pregnancy is on people – I've seen it for myself two times – and it makes people snappy and fed up, but she would never hurt you.' Liam said and I sighed.

'She hacked into the file about the threats about us, she told me she doesn't want me to work when it's looming over us,'

'I'm kinda with her on that one,' Liam said as we got outside.

'But she's trying to let these people win,'

'She's trying to keep you _safe,_ Luke. She's terrified. You were the exact same after she was kidnapped, I bet, she must be terrified after the shit she's seen working for MI5 and she'll be completely terrified that something will happen to you, and you won't be there for her when she gives birth, and for your baby either, and you'll get hurt or killed. Totally with her on this one. She was just trying to protect you like you did for her,'

'She hacked into the files when I told her I wasn't happy with her doing so,'

'And this is the first time she's ignored you. Luke – she's trained in security, which was the reason you two met, right?' Liam said. 'You're driving tonight,' He gestured to the other side of the van as I climbed in. 'Come on, you know you love her – Hell, you're going to ask her to marry you soon so stop acting like a little baby and see her side for once,'

I sighed as I buckled up my seatbelt in the car. Liam was entirely correct; I had told him before my week long break that my plans were to propose to Grace before the baby was born. I love her and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her so it seemed the right thing to do. I knew she wouldn't want to get married within the next year when our baby was so young, but I wanted to say she was my fiancée – my wife to be. I had a fairly decent idea on what ring to buy and knew Grace's ring size. She was an extremely heavy sleeper and I managed to take her ring hand when she was asleep and measured her finger. I would order the ring by the end of this weekend when she wasn't around and then work something out. Today was only the 5th June and I had 21 days to her due date so I had time – many people's first child arrives late.

'I guess - but I'm still annoyed,'

'You are so stubborn,' Liam sighed. 'Okay, be annoyed, but don't take it out on her,'

I sighed – checking my phone quickly to loads of miscalls and messages and I just rolled my eyes and turned off my phone. I was on shift now and had to focus but… I suppose Liam was right. We wouldn't be child free for a minimum of eighteen years and I couldn't spend the rest of that time getting pissy with her. At the end of the day, she was the one who was heavily pregnant. I got her into that position and it was her who was going through Hell. I need to calm down and spend some quality time before she goes into labour. I needed to make it up to her when I got home.

'Let's start then,' I said, driving out of the bay and turning on the radios and SatNav as Liam radio we were ready to start. Only a ten-hour shift, plus an hour travelling home, until I could see Grace again.


	39. Chapter 39

**Thirty Nine**

'I really hope your child doesn't get your attitude,' Liam continued to moan at me during the shift. We were busy but it wasn't shockingly bad in comparison to some shifts, and we had around ten minutes between each call which we used to drive the street and Liam took this time to explain to me how much of an idiot I was for being an idiot to Grace.

And I had to agree with him on. I was known in my family to be very quick to get aggressive – Grace had completely calmed me down but I guess I was prone to flying off the handle. When I was angry, I never saw the other side and always had to calm down before I realised how much of an idiot I was. I needed some space in order to calm down and realise my own actions. This time around, I realised how much of an idiot I was to Grace. Whilst she did go behind my back she was completely trained in what she was doing and she was doing it to protect us. And I had to go to work, so I stormed out of her rather than doing the adult thing of telling her we will discuss it later.

The equivalent would be Grace telling me not to help her brother who had a cut on his leg, and I went behind her back to help Jack stem the bleeding and get him to a hospital. I would be doing for the greater good with the interest of both Jack and Grace in mind, despite Grace's wishes.

'I know what I did was wrong,' I told Liam and he nodded.

'First thing you said I believe,' Liam said and I rolled my eyes.

'Just because you can s _ee_ what I'm feeling,'

'Yeah, and I've watched you go from angry and pissy to guilty and calm so I know you know what did was wrong.' Liam shrugged, slouching in his chair in the front of the ambulance playing with his Rubix cube. 'We're off shift in an hour and I need regular updates on if she forgives you,'

'If?' I asked.

'You did call her an idiot, stormed out, and you've been blocking her out ever since – if I did that to Amy she would not forgive me for a good few days,' Liam explained and I swallowed nervously. I knew Grace would most likely be asleep when I got home tonight at around two in the morning and she normally doesn't stir when I get into bed. I could wake her up to apologise, I guess? No – she would be so crabby and would hate me. I sighed. 'If she's good to you, she'll forgive you in the next few days but until then you have to prove to her you're not a constant asshole,'

The radio went with another call. Liam picked it up and started talking to get the details of the case as I started to follow the route that popped up on the SatNav – it was a few miles away in Fleet, a young girl who had a seizure in the night from the sounds of it.

'When we'll go off shift, you need to keep me updated if she forgives you or not.' Liam repeated after writing down the brief notes of the case.

'Yeah, alright then.' I said turning on the lights.

We got off shift half an hour late, having taken the last girl to the hospital and had to wait with her until we could successfully pass her over to the children's unit in the local hospital. The three-year-old had a history of unexplained fits but this one was worse compared to the others. The girl, Maria, was adorable and very tearful – she had a fit in the middle of the night when she was deep asleep and started choking, and was struggling to breathe now and there was every chance of another seizure. Her parents were completely distraught as could be expected and they looked completely shell shocked when I arrived at the house.

We checked over Maria and decided she had to go to the hospital but Maria was freezing, shaking, and couldn't be comforted at all by her parents and she needed to try and stay calm to help her breathing. She was on oxygen too, which terrified her. So I sat with her as Liam examined her, I sat next to her and read her the book that was on the bedside cabinet. Liam took to explaining everything to her parents as Maria curled up into my side as I continued to read her the fairy tale books in funny voices. When we moved into the ambulance, Maria refused to let go of my top so I sat with her on the bed in the ambulance, monitoring all of her stats as Liam drove with the lights on to the nearest hospital. Eventually, she fell asleep and I managed to swap places with her father as I gently explained what will happen when we get to the hospital to her Mum who was understandably distraught.

'Will she be okay?'

'She's stable,' I whispered to the Mum and she started crying. 'The hospital will probably keep her in overnight to do some tests, though,'

'I didn't notice she was – I had no idea, you must think I'm a terrible parent,' She said to me as she broke down again.

'No, of course, I don't. These things happen, but try and keep it together for Maria,' I whispered to the sobbing parent who's named I didn't even know – Ayesha or something. 'She needs you,'

'Thank you, your Highness,' She whispered as she hugged herself nervously. I held my arm out and she fell into me.

'Don't worry about formalities and its okay. This is my job.' I said as we took a corner and I knew we were at the hospital. I took the family with Liam's help into the corridor to wait for the room they needed to become available as people gawped at me, with Ayesha staying close to me, and Maria on the other side of me asleep as Liam started to write down the notes onto the paperwork and the father went to make calls to workplaces and the rest of the family. We eventually left at half one in the morning after a successful handover and a drive back to the office to hand Bettie the van over to the next drivers for the night shifts. Liam and I headed back into the changing room and I noticed my phone was completely dead and I sighed.

'That was rough, man,' Liam said, running his hand through his hair. 'I can't imagine what it would be like if that happened to one of my girls,'

'I can't imagine what it would be like either,' I said. I had recently – only in the last month or so – started to phantom the pain parents must go through when their kids are hurt. Our baby was starting to kick and move around soon after the twenty-week scan but it was only recently that the weight of becoming a parent kicked in and I had greater sympathy and empathy now when it comes to the parents I see on the job. It also made me go and apologise to Mum for the injuries I got in the army in the first two months of service when I promised I would be safe – a promise I couldn't keep.

'Want to get a pint before going home?'

I considered it – I knew Maria would be playing on my mind as I was driven home tonight by security and I would constantly wonder if she was okay or if my daughter when she was born would be okay. I had seen the horrific illnesses people had and I had seen kids in some states and it had really started playing with my mind. The midwife said everything was okay, Grace's pregnancy was high risk, but it terrified the shit out of me. Perhaps a pint would take my mind off that?

No. I had to get home to Grace. Normally, a pint wouldn't have been much but I had that certain dredging guilt about leaving Grace any longer than I had too and I can't tell if it was from the argument or the threat but I wanted to get home to her.

'I probably should go check on Grace,' I mumbled and Liam nodded.

'Good call – oh, the firm face is here.' Liam said nodding to the security lad who had just walked in. He stood in the doorway in his suit and shades with his arms crossed. Liam hit me on the back in a reassuring way. 'I'm sure she'll be fine, but make sure she knows how bad you feel, and let me know how it goes,' Liam said.

'Thanks mate; I'll text you in the morning though. I'll doubt she'll be awake now,'

'You'll know if you're in massive shit if she's still awake now,' Liam joked as I got up with my backpack over my shoulder and headed to the door. 'You'll be executed in the morning if she's still awake,' Liam called down the corridor as I walked out with security, a small smile playing on my face. But deep down, I hoped I could repair the damage this had done to Grace before it was too late. It was a forty-five-minute drive back to the Palace and a five-minute walk from the underground car park to my suite – so it was just over fifty minutes until I could see her. And in those fifty minutes, I knew my mind would be throwing up all kinds of possibilities of what mood she might be in.

It was going to be a tedious ride home.

/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\

 **Grace's POV**

I had meticulously planned Luke's death for not being with me when I was in labour, but I knew he got off shift at one and I was hoping he would be home any minute now to help me – if not I was completely screwed.

The contractions started off as mildly uncomfortable and painful – steps up from period pains – and were ten minutes apart as he left. However, over the last ten hours they had got increasingly worse to the point, I could barely move and was bed-bound. I had tried to call someone but Jack didn't pick up his phone, Theo said he couldn't talk at the moment and Caroline never had her phone on her when she was out, Xav and Crystal never told me the numbers for their English SIM cards and their American phones were left in America – and my phone died shortly after spamming Luke with phone calls, text, Skype calls – anything to get his attention which didn't even work.

I wasn't a strong telepath to start with, and the second the pain got worse I couldn't contact anyone via telepathy. The messages weren't even forming properly in my head. I couldn't believe the pain, though; no one could prepare you for the agonising pain. I had shamelessly thrown up several times to the stage it was just bile in the toilet and that was a few hours ago and now I was light headed and weak and was probably dehydrated.

I tried calling for help, too, but with sound-proofed rooms, there was no chance in Hell. There were no secret buttons I was aware of either, and Luke's refusal for any staff to do his work when he was here meant no one checked up on me the ten hours I was alone.

It had got until two in the morning and it slowly dawned on me that there was a high chance I would have to deliver my own baby – my own daughter – alone in Luke's bed. The thought scared the shit out of me but I had no other alternatives. Luke wasn't home yet and there were only around a minute between each crippling contraction now. The pain was so intense I couldn't breathe, I was completely cried out, and despite how pissed off I was at Luke I wanted him here. He couldn't miss the birth of his daughter. He would remain calm, and tell me to be calm and hold my hand but he wasn't here damn it. I will never let him live this down.

The shakes had started to kick in and I tried to think what to do. I knew I didn't have much time left. With no way of calling an ambulance (although the irony, if Luke would have been the paramedic to pick up that call, would have been brilliant) and no way of getting any help, I had to at least be prepared to deliver this baby myself. I probably had only a half an hour left.

But Luke might be home in that time? I thought in the hopeful part of my mind. But I knew he occasionally went out after work for a pint with the lads he was on shift with to rewind and to calm and to leave what he sees at work _at work._ I couldn't count on it. I couldn't count on Luke the time I needed him the most.

Bastard.

No – that won't help me. That mental attitude won't help me. I tried to focus through the pain and the panic to work out what I needed but it was foggy. Something warm for the baby – a towel? I looked around the room so thankful I was lazy the other day and left the towels that were meant to be placed in the bathroom's warm airing cupboard on the floor with some other clothes that were meant to be put away. With a deep breath, I telekinetically threw the towel at me but it wore me out. A simple movement of a light towel was nearly enough to take me down. Oh God, I wasn't able to do this.

I frowned as I heard movement. Did I hear movement?

A few second later I heard the door close downstairs as someone let themselves in.

'Luke?' I whispered but no reply. But I heard the sound of someone kicking off steel toed boots and the crinkling of heavy weight material jacket as it was hung up by the door. I could cry with happiness. Luke was here. I heard a step on the bottom of the staircase and then he stopped and walked around downstairs for a bit.

Bastard.

Again.

'Luke,' I whispered as another contraction hit and I started to cry, holding the bed sheets tight as the pain rocked through me. Never. Having. Another. Kid.

The tap ran downstairs for a bit before turning off, and then footsteps carried on upstairs.

'Luke,' I said and the footsteps stopped the top of the stairs. Luke was hesitating a hell of a lot. Rather than trying to contact him telepathically, I thought about some very detailed ways to hurt him if he didn't get his arse into this room _RIGHT NOW_ and heard him come closer.

'Grace, are you awake?' He whispered, opening the door but was making sure none of his glass of water spilt. 'I am so sor- what is happening in here?' He said as I had another contraction. 'Oh my God - are you in labour?' He asked standing there shocked.

'For a paramedic, you're shit at the surprise. Yes, I am in bloody labour,' I said and his mouth dropped. But eventually, he flew into action. He put down the cup of water on the side and sat down next to me, wiping the hair away from my face which was now soaked with sweat.

'Why didn't you call me – oh shit,' He said realising what he said as I gave him a dirty look. 'Grace, I am so sorry…' He started as yet another contraction rolled over me and I tried not to curl up or break Luke's hand.

'Shut, up, not, now,' I whispered through the pain. 'I don't think we have time to get to a hospital or call an ambulance,'

'But we need a midwife or at the very least a paramedic.' Luke said with massive eyes and I had to give him another dirty look. 'No, Grace, I can't –'

'You don't have a choice – if you picked up your phone we would be in a hospital by now,' I angrily told him and he took a staggered breath as he came to terms of what he had to do. 'You've done it before, you can do it again. It doesn't matter if she is your daughter this time around,' I told him as I squeezed his hand as another contraction hit.

'Your contractions are too close, Grace,'

'Perhaps she wants to make an appearance right about now then,' I sighed a few second later as the contraction stopped. 'Prove to me the hours spent studying was worth it and you are a good paramedic,' I told him and he took a breath before flying into action.

'Right, let me see how far along you are,' He said, crawling down the bed awkwardly and pulling off my pyjama bottoms and spreading my legs how you see in the movies. He looked me in the eyes. 'You'll be fine, just breathe through it, I know you can do this. I love you,' He told me softly and I nodded. He quickly checked out what was happening down there and the second he looked me back in the eye I knew it wasn't the best of news.

'What?'

'Baby is coming now,' Luke said. 'You're right – she isn't hanging around.'

'What,' I replied deadpan.

'Grace, you need to start pushing.' He said quickly getting off the bed and grabbing the rest of the towels from airing cupboard of the clean laundry pile. He quickly put two in a pile next to him, one under me and the rest were still on the floor. 'You are at 10cm dilated, Grace, she isn't hanging around. Take your top off,'

'Excuse me,' I said still in shock.

'Skin to skin contact, Grace, you did psychology you know about attachment theories,' Luke said, getting off the bed and squatting down. I knew he was in paramedic mode now and he was focused on the best way to deliver the baby in the safest way possible. I complied, quickly whipping off the vest top I had on even though it stuck to me with sweat. 'Next contraction, push,' Luke said meeting my eye. 'Let's meet our daughter,' He said with a sweet smile.

I wanted to say a witty comment but the contraction hit me hard and fast and I did what he said. He used one of the towels to do something but I wasn't even paying attention anymore.

'That was good, Grace, just focus and stay with it and please remember to breathe.' Luke said, gently touching my leg. 'Whenever the next contraction happens, same again,' He said.

It lasted for another fifteen minutes and I was so close to giving up when Luke said he could finally see the head. The thought disguised me and made me cringe that he was down the business end as this was all happening but I had complete and utter trust in him to deliver our baby daughter. Even though it was cringing he was doing this, rather than trying to support me, I knew this would be a hell of a story to look back on.

'You'll be relieved to know she's not bald,' Luke joked and I rolled my eyes. 'You are doing absolutely incredible; Grace, another big push and we should get most of the head out. You are so nearly there, you can do this. And I promise you, I'll buy you pizza.' He said and I nodded, unable to reply as I pushed again.

'She is not waiting around. I think she heard pizza and wants some. So like her Mum,' Luke said with a small grin.

'Or her Dad,' I mumbled with my head thrown back completely exhausted. 'I'm never doing this again,' I told him seriously and he grinned at me.

'We'll see about that,' Luke said as another contraction came and I did the same as I had been doing for the last God knows how long – it felt like a century – and he nodded. He quickly grabbed the towel again and wiped and the towel was nearly covered in blood. I wasn't squeamish but it was starting to make my stomach flip. Almost as if reading my thought, Luke threw the towel into the laundry bin in the bathroom.

'I can't do this,' I told him, breaking down. I was tired, felt like shit, thought I was going to pass out.

'Sweetheart, I know you can do this. You are incredible, Grace, I love you to pieces, and you can do anything you put your mind too. You can do this,' Luke said. 'Trust me.'

'I can't,' I mumbled. 'I… I just can't,' I whispered, wiping away a tear but even that exhausted me.

'Let's put it this way, you cannot kick my arse later for being an asshole if you don't get her out of you,' He said with a cheeky grin as I continued to push through the contractions. 'Okay, stop for a moment, the heads out.' Luke said. 'She is absolutely beautiful, Grace,' Luke said as his voice broke and I knew he was trying not to cry. 'One more, Grace, and that's it. No more kids,'

'Can I see her?' I asked stupidly.

'Not until she's out,' Luke said, looking at the clock quickly. 'One more big push, Grace, and then it's over., then you can see her,' I met his gaze and I nodded. 'Then we'll be parents,'

It all happened so fluidly; another contraction came and I barely pushed and suddenly she was there, on my stomach, Luke's hand on her back, rubbing her upper back. The next moment, she started to cry. I awkwardly hugged her, the umbilical cord not cut yet, as Luke rubbed her down with a towel before throwing it with the other towel into the laundry bin.

'Oh my – hey,' I whispered pathetically in tears to the baby that was now lying on my stomach. She was so small, so fragile – my daughter. She only cried for a few moments before settling down. Luke looked me in the eyes with a massive grin on his face before kissing me.

'I love you so much Grace,' He said. 'Congratulations, and well done,' He said.

'Thank you, you too.' I told him and he simply shook his head, the grin still there. He quickly grabbed something from the other side of the bedroom and walked over, and in a very swift almost practised moment, he cut the umbilical cord, tying it on our daughter and pegging it the other end before wrapping up our baby, handing it to me.

'We should have about five minutes until the afterbirth,' He said softly, lying beside me as we both took a moment to watch out daughter. Her eyes were screwed closed, and her small tufts of hair still had a bit of blood in them, but she was perfect. I held her tight, taking in every second of her – her little chubby cheeks, her straight nose and lips. She already had perfect nails. Luke gently bent down and kissed her head. 'She's perfect,'

'Born at 3:42 am,' Luke said to me, looking over at me before grinning at me as he gently – extremely gently – kissed me. I don't know how long we laid there watching over our perfect daughter for but I had another uncomfortable pain and Luke sat up. 'That would be the afterbirth, just be chilled and go with what your body says,' Luke said, heading down to the business end once more.

/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\

The afterbirth was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was and was over pretty soon, with Luke knowing what he was doing it only took around five minutes. He gently cleared me up, wiping away blood and quickly washing me down as I continued to hold our daughter, having to check every few seconds she was still breathing before I told Luke to hold her. He looked hesitant before he took hold of her and his entire face light up. The way Luke held her was so delicate and so precious and he looked at her the exact same way as he looks at me – with pure love and dedication, like he would move mountains for her. It took my breath away as I sat up, flinching from the pain.

We sat on the edge of the bed for about an hour or so, with Luke taking the odd photo of me and I returned the favour once my phone was charged. Luke jotted down the time of birth and got the kitchen scales so we could roughly weigh her – six pounds two ounces. I then put her in her first set of clothes we had chosen out; a nappy, a grey baby grow with small Tigger's from Winnie the Pooh all over and a vest underneath that before we wrapped her back up in a softer fleece towel. Luke set to work packing the hospital bag, ready for us to leave to head to the maternity ward.

'Grace,' Luke said and I looked up. We hadn't discussed a name, not thinking she would be here so early. 'Can I tell Mum and Theo before we leave?' He said softly and I nodded.

'They're asleep though,'

'I'll ask them to meet me in the reception room and I'll bring her down there,' Luke said and I knew the room he was referring too was just down the corridor a bit and to one side. Inside only had a few sofas and pieces of art but the door was hidden by a big wall, so those inside the room couldn't see the doorway.

'Sounds good,' I said.

 **Luke's POV**

I couldn't get over my daughter. She was just incredible. She was so small I could hold her entirely in the crook of my elbow but she was just perfect. I asked the guards outside my room to send the message to both Theo and Mum to meet me in that reception room urgently now. I waited ten minutes or so to make their way down there was I helped Grace down the stairs still very sore – obviously – before putting my jacket around her arms.

'You sure you want to come? You can just sleep?' I told her softly.

'Not a chance,' She replied. 'I'll sleep when I get to the hospital,' I nodded. I passed our baby girl back to her and she gently took her, smiling down at her and rocking her gently. She had just opened her eyes for the first time and her eyes were a beautiful bright blue colour – my eyes. I shamelessly cried and so did Grace but we were both messes and was allowed to be.

I stuck my head out the door. 'Are they there yet?' I whispered to Stanley, the only guard standing outside my room.

'Yes sir, Her Majesty was there in seconds, and his Royal Highness got there a few minutes ago. Is everything okay?' He asked back quietly.

'Perfect. Can you look away, and don't look back at us until we're in the reception room? And no questions asked?' I asked him and he looked hesitant. I raised my eyebrow, almost reminding him who was in control.

'Of course, Sir,' He said, turning his back. I held the door open and Grace, carrying our baby, slid on out. As quietly as I could, I closed the door behind us and wrapped my arm around her waist, helping her walk slowly to the reception room which was down the corridor around 50 meters away. It would normally take a few seconds but took about five minutes instead. I couldn't be annoyed – my girlfriend had given birth less than an hour ago. She wasn't even meant to be moving. She was meant to be resting but hey ho. She was stubborn as Hell.

'Stay out here for a second,' I whispered to her, kissing her forehead as she nodded before bending down and kissing our babies forehead. 'You be good for Mummy now,' I told her but she was already asleep. I knocked quietly on the door and let myself in.

Mum and Theo were hovering around in night time clothes and both of them looked my way in panic as I came in.

'What's happened?' Mum asked.

'Is everything okay?' Theo asked at the same time.

'Nothing bad,' I quickly said and they visibly relaxed.

'What do you want this early in the morning, Luke?' Mum asked me, frowning. 'Is Grace okay?'

'She's fine, just thought you wouldn't want to miss this,' I said with a smile and both of them frowned.

'Miss what?' Theo said and I gently walked around the corner, opened the door and nodded for Grace to come in and come into view of my mother and my older brother.

Their faces was an absolute picture; the shock and surprise mixed in with happiness.

'Oh my god,' Theo whispered standing still as Mum walked straight over to Grace, hugging her.

'Meet your granddaughter,' I said proudly.

'It's a girl?' Theo asked me and I nodded and he grinned.

'When did this happen?' Mum asked, looking over at the baby – her granddaughter. 'Oh Grace, she is absolutely beautiful and identical to you,' Theo walked over and join in and grinned at the baby.

'About an hour ago,' I replied.

'An hour ago? You gave birth… here?' Mum asked me and we both nodded.

'Is that why you called me earlier and didn't pick up again after?' Theo asked Grace and she nodded again.

'You didn't give birth alone, did you? You called the midwife in?' Mum said gently but was completely doting over her.

'No, I delivered her,' I said, arm around Grace but eyes completely focused on our sleeping daughter. Mum looked up at me sharply. 'We had an argument before I went to work and when I came back, she was already 10cm dilated so we did it ourselves,' I shrugged. 'We're just about to head to hospital, just to make sure everything is okay,'

'Yeah, go now,' Mum said to me and I frowned. 'It's always good to make sure everything is okay for both of them, especially as she was outside the two week period,' Mum added and I nodded. Grace looked up at me and I knew she was extremely tired and wasn't really paying attention to what we said. I kissed her gently. 'We'll come to the hospital in the morning, give you time to settle down,'

'Yeah, Jesus - go to the hospital you two,' Theo said finally catching up on what we had said. He wasn't too good with shock or blood and looked a bit pale. 'We'll drop by at some point – wait, does she have a name yet?' Theo asked and I shook my head.

'Perhaps when we get in, she will have a name?' Mum asked and I shrugged. 'Come on, you two; let's get you to hospital,'

/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\

Mum and Theo were great; they packed the bag for us and found out a baby car seat so we could take our baby to the hospital safely. They called around a car into the underground car park and made sure we were both dressed warmly as we carried our baby into the car with us, eventually strapping the car seat in before being driven to the closest hospital – the one that Grace was kidnapped from. I was hesitant at first but Mum had told me if I was concerned, she'll get security outside the maternity ward which led onto the main street. It was the same hospital that both Theo and I were born at and the staff was lovely and they had a private room completely for us which was tucked away by the nurses bay and I knew we would be safe there but I asked Mum for the extra security guards. However, I knew it would be top headlines soon and I hoped we could arrive without anyone spotting us.

Mum and Theo hugged me both before I got in the car, bags in the boot and extra security cars in front and behind us, with promises to come see us around midday once Grace and the baby had been checked over, given the all clear and was allowed to rest. As I got in the car, I knew Grace was half asleep despite struggling to stay awake and I gently put my arm around her awkwardly, the car seat in the middle of us as we set off.

'You did amazingly, Grace,' I told her and she smiled.

'Thank you,' She whispered. 'I couldn't do this without you,'

'I'm sorry about –' I went to apologise but Grace just shook her head.

'Let's not talk about it now,'

'Okay,' I said, kissing her cheek.

'I'll look after her if you want to have a quick nap,' I told Grace and she hesitated before shrugging. The car started to leave and the car in front turned on the blue lights. We made our way up the ramps and out of the side of the car park and onto the main roads heading to the hospital. Eventually, Grace looked over at me with a slight frown on her face. 'What's up?'

'I don't know,' She started to cry. I leant over, hugging her tight. She continued to sob. 'I don't know why I'm crying,' She told me as I quickly undid my seatbelt in order to hug her tight.

'Grace, you just gave birth to our beautiful daughter, it's okay you feel like this. It's okay,' I told her softly.

She continued to sob until we got into the medical delivery bay in the hospital when I was finally able to get outside of the car and around to her side, helping her out and hugging her tight as she calmed herself down. 'Grace, you have hormones completely surging your body, you gave birth three hours ago to our incredible miracle daughter, you are shattered, angry, and worn down, it is okay to cry, Grace.' I told her. 'Come on, let's get you checked out and then you can sleep. I'll call everyone, I'll look after the baby, just have some sleep,' I told her softly and she nodded as some midwives who had already been prepared for our entry into the hospital and had cleared out the room for our arrival. They had already brought down a porter chair for Grace.

'Sit down,' I told Grace and she was so shattered she simply obliged. Quickly, I reached into the car and took the baby out of the car seat, holding her so gently as I continued to watch my baby daughter asleep in my arms. Security came to us straight away. 'Can you bring the bags in, sir?' I asked the security guard to my right and he gently nodded heading to the boot of the car.

An hour later, Grace was all checked out and cleared – there was a potential for a small haemorrhage and she had to be extremely careful until everything heals itself properly. She was under strict bed arrest for two weeks before she can start taking it slowly after that. Our baby was also checked out and was being monitored for a few days in the hospital and I knew we wouldn't be allowed out tonight, or tomorrow either just to make sure she will be okay.

Grace was on the bed, lying on her side watching me. She had the blankets over her and pillows under her head. Our baby was lying in a Perspex cot next to the bed, and I was sitting on a plush chair next to the bed and the cot, all three of us in the corner. I gently held Grace's hand.

'She still doesn't have a name,' I whispered to her and Grace nodded, her hair now tied back and her eyes shining but fluttering with sleep deprivation. 'Any names you like?'

'Doesn't it have to be royal or something?' Grace whispered and I shook my head.

'Who cares about traditions? You were pregnant for 37 weeks with our little gem, you get to name her.'

'I want a name that is meaningful, and is significant, and… never mind,' Grace said, looking over at our baby.

'What were you going to say?'

'I kinda want to name her after my Mum,' Grace whispered, wiping away a tear. 'But I couldn't. I couldn't call her Amelia. I couldn't,'

'Then why not Amy? Or Leah?' I asked her but looking down at the baby and knew it didn't suit her. She didn't look like an Amy or a Leah.

'No, it's too close still, it was a bad idea.' Grace said sadly. And then it came to me.

I looked over at our baby daughter, who had only woken up once during this whole thing for a feed, and I knew what name she would suit. It was almost like the name was meant to her. It was still based on Grace's Mum's name. I looked over at my girlfriend who lay on the bed, half asleep but not wanting to sleep and miss a single moment.

'What about Lila?' I whispered.

'Like… Lee-lah, but spelt el-eye-el-ay?' Grace said and I nodded. She looked over. 'Lila,' She repeated into the cot and our baby made a very cute noise that all newborns make and Grace smiled and nodded.

'I think we have a winner,' Grace said sweetly. 'Our little daughter Lila.' I leant forward and kissed her gently on her. 'Do you mind calling Jack and Markie? And my grandparents? And my cousins?' Grace asked me.

'Of course, you can go to sleep now,' I said, kissing her forehead.

I did as she said, calling her brother who was so excited it was incredible and was leaving work now and getting the train into London with Markie to come and see Grace. Grace's grandparents promised to see us after we come out of hospital as they wanted her to rest when I told her Nan, who was passing the messages on to her Grandfather (as they clearly didn't understand what speakerphone was), Lila was born at home and Grace was completely shattered which was why I was phoning.

I took the logic and called up Crystal, who thankfully picked up on the fourth ring.

'Luke?' Crystal groaned sleepily.

'Are you still asleep?'

'Well, I'm not _now_ am I?' Crystal sighed. 'What's happened?'

'Grace gave birth this morning,' I said and I heard Crystal jump out of bed.

'Repeat that again,' She said and I laughed.

'Grace gave birth this morning – literally three in the morning,' I said softly, checking through the glass in the door to see Grace on her side, deep asleep.

'Oh my God! Congratulations! Is the baby okay? Is Grace? We didn't even hear you leave the Palace!' Crystal said and I could hear Xav in the background, also groggily talking, and Crystal passed on the message to him. He shouted congratulations too. 'Can we come and see Grace and the baby – wait, is it a boy or girl?'

'It's a little girl, you can see her whenever you want – the guards should be able to arrange a car and drop you off a block down as they've closed the road for press,' I sighed annoyed that the media had already caught a whiff of the news that Grace had given birth and they had already got preparations to close the roads if – well, when – the media decide to camp outside like they did for when my cousin Alexandra gave birth two years ago and every single royal birth from my birth twenty-one years ago. Our plan wasn't to come to this hospital. We wanted to go low key; go to the hospital Jack works at or the slightly bigger maternity ward in Berkshire. 'Grace is absolutely shattered, the baby is fine but they're monitoring her overnight as a precaution because Grace gave birth in the Palace – hence why you didn't hear us leave,'

'She gave birth _here?!_ '

'Yup,'

'Holy shit. Okay, right, we'll be over as soon as we can,' Crystal said and I laughed gently as she hung up. I simply text the remainder of her family explaining she was asleep and would call when she was awake. Vick was the first one to reply, sending congratulations, asking Grace to call him when she feels up to it and said he would look into coming over here to see the baby when he could.

One last person.

I dialled Liam's number and he picked up on the fourth ring.

'Oh God – that's never a good sign, but yes you can sleep on my sofa,' Liam joked and I laughed.

'I don't know if she has forgiven me, but I won't be in work tonight or for the next few weeks.'

'Why?' Liam asked quickly. 'She's stabbed you, hasn't she? I really don't blame her. Personally, I would have done a hell of a lot worse…'

'Grace gave birth last night,' I said softly, interrupting him.

'She did what? Oh God please don't say she was in labour when we were on shift,'

'Yup – I came home and she was 10cm gone, I delivered the baby,'

'Boy or girl?' Liam asked.

'Little girl, born at 3:42 am or something, six pounds two.'

'I can't believe you ignored your girlfriend when she was in labour,' Liam tutted.

'I didn't know!'

'Can I visit tomorrow?' Liam asked.

'Yup, sounds good,' I said and I heard a grizzling from in the room. 'Got to go, Lila's woken up,' I said softly.

'Lila? That is so cute. But alright, I'll text you mate. Congratulations, though, and tell Grace the same for me,'

I said goodbye and hung up as I walked back into the room. Grace was still asleep, on her side, the fall and rise of her chest just about obvious when you focused on her. She was sticky with sweat still, the remainders of her makeup around her eyes and down her face where she must have cried in labour. She was shattered and I knew she wouldn't be awake for a while. I knew my Mum and Theo were going to come around midday, in an hour and a bits time, but I doubt she would be awake by then either.

Lila was in her cot, grizzling slightly and I immediately went over there and gently picked up my daughter. She calmed down the second I picked her up and looked up at me with squinted eyes. I couldn't get over how small she was, how perfect she was too. She was absolutely beautiful. She had my eyes that much was obvious, the bright shining blue, but she looked like Grace too. Her little chubby cheeks, the straight nose and the dimple on her chin – all of it was from Grace. I gently carried Lila over to the other side of the room, rocking her even though I had no idea if that was what I was meant to do or not and she looked up at me.

'What's wrong, hey, Lila?' I whispered to her gently. 'You were asleep for a while, little one, you don't seem very awake either,' I whispered to her softly and she made a cute noise. 'I love you so much, Lila,'

She continued to watch me as I sat down on a padded sofa on the other side of the room, near the door that leads to the bathroom. She was still swaddled in her blanket and I gently laid her down on the sofa, touching her cheek as I did, and I took my shirt off. Quickly, I unwrapped the blanket from around Lila and picked her up, still dressed in her outfit we picked out for her and held her against my chest as I leant back into the sofa.

'You are incredible, you really are.' I whispered to her, leaning forward to kiss her head. 'It wasn't me pissing Mummy off that that made you come into this World early was it?' I asked her.

'Probably,' I heard Grace whisper and I looked up at her. Grace looked barely awake either and was still tucked up quite happily but was looking down at me. I got up and sat back on the chair beside her, making sure Lila was happy at all times.

'How are you feeling?' I asked her gently. 'Why did you wake up?'

'I dunno, it just happened – I'm still shattered though so I might go back to sleep if everything is okay?' Grace whispered and I nodded. 'I'm alright as long as I don't move, is Lila okay?' She said, squinting against the light.

'She's fine, she just woke up a minute or two ago. I've called your brother and he's over the moon and he's coming in a bit, Theo and Mum are coming at twelve and Crystal is coming over at some point to see you too, but they know you'll probably be asleep,' I told her gently as Lila started to settle down again. I swallowed nervously. 'Do… do you think I was the one to make you go into labour?'

Grace looked down for a second and I knew she thought it could be potentially the reason. We both remember the midwife nagging on and on about the effects of stress and how it could lead to a spontaneous premature labour- but weighing up the events we had been through with moving to Buckingham again and the threat, was Grace really more affected by an argument than all of that?

'You do know how much that upset me, Luke, right?' She said softly. 'You called me stupid, paranoid and said you didn't have time for my constant moaning. It killed me off,' She teared up.

'I'm so sorry, I was just scared for you and the baby, and that you were letting Callus win. I was also annoyed you went behind my back to look at the file. But Liam explained to me you were doing all of that just because you cared about me and it is your job. I'm so sorry, I never meant to upset you or for this to happen. I only wanted you to realise what you had done, I never wanted to upset you.' I told her and she nodded.

'I'm sorry too – I should have listened to you and not looked the file up. I wish I didn't now, but I can't risk either of you two now.' Grace said softly.

'I'm with you on that one, there's no chance that either of you two are leaving my sights ever. Until Lila's eighteen that is,' I joked. 'Go back to bed, Grace, I have everything covered.' I said to her sweetly and she looked at me for a moment before nodding.

'Okay,' She said. 'I still love you, though Luke. I still love you,' Grace said and I frowned.

'I love you too. Every couple has arguments, Grace, it's completely normal. You can hold it against me if you want. I really don't mind.' I joked and she smiled but I knew she was already half asleep, much like my daughter in my arms.

/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\

Theo and Mum came to visit at the exact time they promised, meeting me outside with hugs and balloons and presents. I warned them that Grace was heavily asleep and was completely shattered so we had to be careful when talking around her. However, they both fell in love with Lila even more than they did when they saw her a few hours previous. Both of them held her tight, not wanting to let her go. Eventually, they remembered to ask if she had a name and both seemed overwhelmingly pleased with the name we picked out for her; the name wasn't common or "Royal" but we were defying the rules as it was.

The press had got the wind of what had happened too and were now camping outside the hospital and I checked the rolling news channels and sure enough, they were lining the streets opposite the entrance to the maternity ward. Every single shot showed the seven concrete stairs leading up to the automatic doors leading into the ward, security standing at the bottom of the stairs to stop any journalists coming in.

Even though they would have to find their ways through the maze to come to our room.

The news was reporting Grace had given birth in the early hours of this morning, however, not many details were being broadcast. No one knew she had given birth at home or the gender of the baby or the name either. I watched the news with subtitles on as Mum had another cuddle with her granddaughter, her face lit up and a smile playing on her face. It was the exact same look she gave me when I told her Grace was my Soulfinder. The lady on the TV explained that the car reportedly dropped us off in the early hours of this morning and it was unclear how long Grace had been in labour, but they assumed by the guests coming in the baby had been born. Apart from that, they had nothing else to report so turned to betting statistics. There were higher odds of the baby being a boy, apparently, as having "boys" runs in the family. I suppose that was true; Mum was the only girl out of the five kids our grandfather had. Names such as Victoria, Beatrice and Anne for girls were the top betting ones and I wrinkled my nose. Firstly, the correct English spelling of the name "Anne" is "Ann" without an E – the spelling with the E is actually French – and "Ann" simply means "Grace" – so no, of course, that wasn't happening. I cannot be having two Graces around the house. And I had family with each of those names and felt kind of bad breaking them.

Having two middle names was a family tradition I didn't want to break, though. Even though Grace once finding out my two middle names laughed for years, I wanted to keep that going. Once I sat down and told Grace that a few weeks back she agreed to it but I wasn't too sure how to bring it up now but I did want to keep part of my daughter's name traditional.

'Sorry we couldn't keep them away,' Theo said, watching me watch the TV.

'It's alright, they were going to come anyway. Feel kind of bad for them – they all have families at home that they won't see because they're camping out there in the boiling sun with no rest breaks.' I said softly and Theo frowned.

'You've totally changed your tone about the paps,' Theo said to me.

'I told you he would change the second Lila was born,' Mum said softly as she continued to cradle my now sleeping daughter. She had demanded a feed around half an hour ago but had since settled back down again.

'What do you mean?'

'Becoming a parent, it does all kind of weird things for you. You suddenly become so family orientated and you'll start to feel parent's pain a hell of a lot more. You're suddenly sympathising with the people you've been talking rubbish about since you were born, Luke, like the paps.' Mum said and I frowned. 'You used to always tell me they need to get a better job than just stalking us all day, and they can wait around for however long they want as they won't get what they want for you – and now you're debating about telling them to go home as you won't be released from here for a few days to go and see their family, and wanting to help them,'

'I guess, it just doesn't seem very nice for them to be trapped out there in the heat just waiting for something that won't happen in the next few days.' I mumbled.

'Then go out there and tell them that,' Theo said. 'Tell them to come back tomorrow as there is no way you'll be released today, you already know the majority of the UK dotes on you,'

'You think I should?' I said rubbing my stubble. It was extremely tempting but I wanted to talk to Grace first. I quickly checked her and she was still sound asleep. Theo and Mum nodded.

'If you want to, tell them some details about it – whatever you and Grace are comfortable with, wait for her to wake up and then go out there and tell them to go home,' Mum added. 'It'll be really cute,'

I kept thinking about it for three hours, and by that time Jack and Markie had piled into the room, and as Theo and Mum left, Crystal and Xav joined us. All four of them were just about to leave as Grace woke up. I was sitting on the chair next to her bed. Lila was in her cot fast asleep on the other side of the room in between the two sofas with our four guests on, all of which were doting over her.

'Hey,' I whispered as she opened her eyes slowly. She blinked for a second, covering her mouth as she yawned before looking up at me.

'Hey,' She said sweetly in a hushed whisper.

'How are you feeling, sweetheart?' I asked her gently, knowing we were speaking so quietly Crystal, Xav, Jack and Markie wouldn't pick up we were speaking – they were too busy in their own conversations.

'Okay, I think,' Grace said before looking up at me with huge eyes. 'Thank you,' She said and I leant in and kissed her gently.

'I don't know where I would be without you,' I told her gently and that was the truth.

I was in an awful place before I met her, but I never told her the true extent, scared she would change her opinion on me. I had a controlling father who would quite often force you to do things you never wanted to do, I had just come back from war-ridden terrain and what you see serving your country is stuff you cannot forget and every night I had flashbacks and nightmares. I didn't eat, didn't sleep, and didn't do anything really; I just sat there in a dark space with only the memories of Afghanistan to keep me company.

But because of my status, because I was stupid Prince, it meant I couldn't be seen to be weak. I wasn't allowed to get a psychiatrist to help with potentially Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or the fears and anxiety I had building up to every single event in the public, or even the fear I had going to bed, terrified I would see the same vivid dream I had done since the accident whilst out in the field. Father told it was embarrassing for the family to have someone so weak. He told me it was pathetic. He had served for years before getting married to my mother and he never had any issues. Sure, it was an issue that I got injured but there was no need to be such a "baby" about it. That was what he said to me when I was in a hospital after being operated on.

I had been shot in the leg like Grace had in a similar location, and the squaddies I was with tried to fix it up enough and stop the bleeding enough so I could get back to the base for medical attention. The rogue sniper who had shot me was killed, unfortunately, as they assume he knew who I was and therefore put the entire group of us in danger. He looked like he was just a kid – I saw him before he fired his gun at me. He had a family to go back too and I watched him die in front of me. He was someone's son, perhaps he had a partner waiting for him to come home safe that night? Perhaps he had children, or siblings, or someone waiting for him to return but he never did. But as they worked on my leg in the field, someone from our quadrant went into the area where the boy was to see if there were any others. There wasn't.

There was a landmine, though.

I was watching the three men who walked in different directions. Well, two went straight in front of where the boy was and one went right. To the right, they found the land mine. They predicted it had been there for three years and was found completely by mistake. We weren't meant to go out there, but they were securing the area. I watched them die as the mine went off. You can't forget that. How can you? How can you ever forget your friends being… it was too much to think about, even now.

Father told me not to mention what I was seeing to anyone, so I didn't. I assumed it was normal and I was being dramatic about it. I cooped myself up for days on end in my small place not wanting to see anyone, not wanting to eat. Eventually, mother asked me what was wrong with me and I told her what I kept seeing and that I wasn't sleeping and I couldn't face anything. Mother, thankfully, told me it wasn't normal and ordered a psychiatrist to see me immediately, and she moved me and Theo into Windsor for the summer as a way of us to get independence – or that was what she said to father – but it was so I could get treatment. It worked for about four weeks until Father learnt about it, ordered us back, booked us into Royal duties and told me to get on with life and stop attention seeking. A few weeks after that, two cleaning staff died and we got told that they had hired a Graduate student from MI5 to come and live with us to see what they can do about it.

Apparently, she had a gift for remembering things and would be the best for the case. I had just come back from an event about the preservation of trees and went to go and tell my mother I was home, knowing she was concerned about my health and wanted to make sure I was safe at all times. But when I walked into the living room where I knew Mother spent most of her free time, I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

She was skinnier than she was now; and had her hands clasped together in between knees in fear, her blonde hair was messy but neatly over her shoulders and her eyes were shining but there was a crease in between her eyebrows. I remembered the photos my mother had shown me of Grace – our parents had been really close friends, but as her parents work in military intelligence and both her and her brother didn't know for their own safety – we had never met. I made some comment to my mother as she asked me if I remembered them about Grace being the super-hot one with the cutest smile her and as I saw her I knew it was her.

It sounded cliché and it was, but the second I saw her, I knew she was my Soulfinder and it was almost like I didn't breathe until I saw her. The pure love and dedication I had for her been incredible and I didn't speak to her. She lit up a dark world and I owed her everything. That night, after waking up from another nightmare seeing that boy being shot and members, my own friends, from my quadrant unit being blown to pieces, I went to see if she was awake.

And she was - she was so nervous she couldn't sleep, and I gently spoke to her. The next second, I was kissing her and the next second after that, I was in bed with her.

But in the weeks after, the company she provided, the conversations we had, the closeness we gained, it helped me. After I told her I never wanted to talk about what happened when I was abroad serving, she understood and never brought it up again. Grace was one of a kind, and completed me. She encouraged me to get back into university; she encouraged me to be the person she knew I was. Grace was everything for me the second I met her – it took her longer but she got there. I owed Grace so much that I never told her, and I could never thank her for. If she wasn't there -if she didn't save me - I don't know what kind of monster I would have turned into.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

 **Luke's POV**

After all of our company left, I sat in the padded chair next to Grace's hospital bed; in a room tucked away facing a garden with one-way glass windows and thankfully working air con too. Grace remained awake for a fair few hours as I napped on the chair and in the process had fed Lila, changed her, and played with her for around half an hour before Lila fell back asleep. I had woken up around five when my phone started ringing. It was my Mum, telling me she had organised a personal assistant to deal with all the media around Lila's birth and to help us organise everything so we can get back to Buckingham without media attention. I was a bit pissy that we couldn't take Lila back to Windsor when we were released but we just had to deal with it, it was for our own safety. As I sat here, they were ordering all new baby stuff for Lila, including a cot to put in my bedroom in Buckingham.

Deciding Grace needed to rest, even more, she had gone back to bed on my demand and I was awake still. We had decided though that I could announce a tiny bit of information to the press outside, and Lila's gender seemed to be the best idea. I was trying to decide the best way to do it, knowing Mum had to issue the Buckingham Palace notice within a day of the event happening. But I looked over at Lila, almost silently apologising for bringing her into a life that was completely orientated by media – but I wasn't sorry for bringing her into the world. She was incredible and my life had completely changed in eighteen hours. I knew, and I always have, I would do anything to help Grace and Lila from now on in. Anything.

It had just turned half seven, the sun had just started to set and Grace was fast asleep in the bed. Lila was in her cot next to me, also fast asleep, and I wasn't entirely sure who I was to focus on. Grace was on her side, facing me and Lila, a few pillows under her head hoisting her up slightly with the thin blanket pulled up around her shoulders, and her hand was in front of her mouth. I could just about hear her breathing and I couldn't help but grin at her. I love her to pieces.

I knew I wanted to marry her and I knew that soon I would propose but it never seemed quite at the right time. Originally the plan was to ask her before our baby was born but Lila was born. But when we were taking back into Buckingham for our own safety, it wasn't the right time. And that was only last week. So I wasn't entirely sure what the plan was now – if I do it within the next week would it just look like I proposed because of Lila? I wanted Grace to know that I love her and I have for ages now, not just because she's the mother of my daughter or my Soulfinder.

I leant forward gently and rubbed her hand softly and she smiled slightly in her sleep. To say I feel awful about what happened yesterday is an understatement. I was so annoyed that she was almost letting Callus rule us that I stormed out, refused to pick up any phone calls from her or answer her telepathically. I never even thought for a moment she was trying to contact me to tell me she had gone into labour. I thought about how close I was to just go down the pub with the lads for a few drinks too. It was gut instinct to go home and sort out whatever mess I had made with Grace but it was incredibly tempting to drink away the issues instead. But if I did, I would have missed the birth of my daughter. Grace would have been at home, alone, dealing with giving birth on her own – something I'm not entirely sure she would have done safely – whilst I was out with the lads having a few beers. I was so thankful I didn't go out, but I knew there was nothing I could say to Grace to take back the pain she was in, alone, because I was stupid enough to not pick up my phone. I kissed her hand gently.

'I'm sorry, Grace,' I whispered to her, knowing she won't reply. I had apologised to her several times now but she still refused to talk about it – I knew I wasn't forgiven and she was still angry at me but I wasn't too sure what else to do.

There was a very small cute noise from the Perspex cot beside me and I looked down. She was a thin white baby grow, mittens and a hat, fast asleep with her hands above her head. She was absolutely beautiful and looked identical to Grace, the same bone structure and the chubby cheeks, same button nose and fluffy blonde tufts of hair. Theo, who visited earlier in secret, said he could see me in Lila though. I couldn't get over Lila, though. She was my daughter. Every time I thought that – that she was _my daughter –_ I couldn't help but grin. I gently touched her tummy but she remained asleep. She was perfect.

Sure, she was an accident. Never in a million years would I have planned to have a kid this young. I would never purposely attempt to get someone I had met for a day pregnant. It was a series of bad events that caused her, yes. If there weren't the two staff deaths in the Palace, then there wouldn't have been the person leaking media stories out to the press. If that person wasn't leaking stories, then Edward wouldn't have called MI5 to get a new recruit in covert. If that never happened, Grace wouldn't have come to the Palace. I would never have met her. I was the two staff deaths and the leaking media that finally brought her into my life. The last step was her failed contraceptive pill. All of the events leading up to Lila were negative things, but I never knew such a brilliant thing could come out of so many negative things. I would never change her, or Grace. They were both my girls, and I promised them both now I will do whatever it takes to keep them both safe especially with whatever Grace found out in the files yesterday which I hadn't asked about yet.

There was a knock at the door. Rose – the personal assistant Mum had ordered to help with bringing home Lila and to keep her and Grace out of the press - opened the door gently, curtsying in the doorway, before closing the door. She looked over at Grace, and then at the cot beside me, and I gestured for her to be quiet. She nodded, coming over to my side.

'The press are outside, your highness,' She whispered to me, but she was grinning as she looked at Lila, 'They won't go until you've left with Grace and baby Royal,' I hadn't told anyone apart from our immediate family Lila's name yet. I wanted a lot of people to know before the public, and Rose, unfortunately, came low down on that list. I managed to put off personal assistants, most of them quit within a few months as I was hard work to deal with so I learnt not to get too close to them. For their own sakes, really. I had completely given up on them a month after I got back from Afghanistan and I will never get one again after Rose leaves, but I suppose she was doing it for the greater good of both of us. 'It's mostly live coverage on all rolling news channels across the world. Buckingham Palace is willing to put out the gender announcement whenever you are,' Rose whispered to me. I frowned.

'I wanted to do that,' I whispered back and Grace stirred slightly. 'Give me a moment, Rose, I've got a plan,' I whispered to her and she nodded, bowing her head before ducking out of the room. I pulled out my phone and messaged Mother.

 _"Any chance I could announce Lila's gender now like we mentioned earlier?"_ I sent it off quickly, and Mother replied fairly straight forward.

 _"Of course, she's your daughter. How are you going to do it? Does Grace know?"_ She replied back and I smiled.

 _"Both Grace and Lila are currently asleep, but I told Grace before that I wanted to announce the gender of Lila to the public myself and she suggested a way – you watching TV now? Which news anchor has been the nicest to Grace, do you know?"_

 _"BBC refused to run any story that was negative about her when you got together and agreed to put her as a headline when kidnapped. What are you planning on doing, Luke?"_

 _"Just watch BBC, then,"_ I replied back, getting up. I gently kissed Lila's forehead, and then Grace's before ducking out the room. Rose was outside, furiously tapping away at her phone. She looked up at me, straightened her suit.

'Would you like me to do anything, your highness?' Rose asked, obviously wondering if I wanted her to trigger the Buckingham gender reveal paper which would be displayed outside the Palace.

'Yeah, can you grab me a megaphone, please?' I asked and she frowned but knew better to argue. She nodded, walking off. 'I'll meet you by the front door,' I told her and she went to open her mouth before closing it and walking off.

Five minutes later, I was by the front of the hospital and kept peeking around the corner at the masses of news reporters outside the front of the hospital. I wasn't a nervous speaker – my status didn't allow for that – but I was nervous about messing it up. I very quickly found the BBC camera, off to the right slightly and at the front. I knew what I was going to do. I had rehearsed what I was gonna say in my head several times – it wasn't prepared by anyone. It was a reflection of what I was thinking.

'Here is your megaphone, your highness,' Rose said, handing it to me. 'What are you going to do with it?' She asked.

'Security is in place outside?'

'Yes, your highness. All of the journalist and reporters have had their equipment checked and no one is allowed outside apart from those checked. You are completely safe. Security guys are also down the bottom of the stairs, too,'

'Perfect,' I grinned at her, before standing up a bit straighter and without even hesitating, walking through two sets of double doors out onto the top of the stairs – a concrete staircase with railing either side. As I came out, reporters started calling my name, cameras were trained on me, and cameras were flashing. I winced at the flashing lights. I got the mic for the megaphone and turned it on and it caused an awful noise.

'Oops, sorry,' I said through it, turning the volume up. 'Didn't know how to use this thing. Anyway, hello all thanks for coming I guess, I don't know. Just to let you know that Grace and our baby are both doing absolutely fine but will be kept in hospital overnight for definitely tonight and potentially tomorrow night as well, no one else is coming to visit tonight so if you all want a good night sleep and some dinner, I believe there is a really good restaurant around the corner called The Happy Lion, lovely little place, feel free to leave and come back because you won't miss much. Go home, have a good night sleep, see your family, then come back tomorrow from around nine,' I said simply across the megaphone and I noticed a few reporters laughing gently, but the most of them were smiling at me. 'Honestly, we're not trying to bamboozle you or anything, go spend time with your family,' I said gently and a few people aww'd me. 'Thank you,' I replied, putting the megaphone on the stairs and running down the stairs and over to the BBC news reporter.

'Your Royal Highness,' The reporter, someone I knew relatively well as she was always the one who did the press releases at Royal events, Lucy, said to me as I came over. 'May we ask you some questions quickly?' She asked me.

'Of course, Lucy,' I said, smiling at her and she blushed slightly.

'What is it like being a parent now?' She asked first and I sighed.

'It's incredible, it really is. I never thought it was possible to love someone as much as I do the baby,' I said to her, trying not to mention any gendered pronouns – not yet. I had a plan. 'Grace has done absolutely incredible, too, and I love them both to pieces,' A few news presenters had their cameras trained on me but I was speaking quiet enough that only the mic in front of me was able to pick up my voice.

'How long ago was your baby born?'

'Well, there's always a first time for everything. Some things happened yesterday and whilst I was at work, Grace went into labour and by the time I got back from work, everything had moved a bit too quickly so I delivered the baby at home,' I told her and Lucy looked shocked.

'So you delivered the baby in Buckingham Palace, correct?'

'Yeah, correct. I've done it before – once – so I knew what I was doing but it's a hell of a lot scarier when it's your girlfriend and your child, but everything was okay thankfully,' I said and Lucy nodded, happy with the content she was given.

'I'll let you get back to Grace and your new baby, then, but one last thing – any chance of finding out a name?' Lucy said with a small smile.

'Not a name, no.' I laughed slightly. 'But because you've been incredibly nice over the last year to Grace, I can tell you that Grace gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, our little daughter,' I said before walking off, only stopping to quickly wave from the top of the stairs before being ushered in.

Rose's mouth was on the floor and I walked straight past her, down the corridor, down a flight of stairs, around a long corridor into the maternity suite and then went into the first room on the left. The hospital itself was lovely and one on the NHS with a private maternity ward tucked away in the corner, overlooking the thinking garden, where both Theo and I were born. Not that we had planned to have Lila here – we were more than happy to go to the hospital Jack and Markie work in and the maternity ward Markie's sister Sasha worked on as she had dealt with us the entire way through.

As I walked into Grace's room, I silently opened the door before stopping dead. Grace was sitting up in bed, with Lila in a blanket in her arms. They were both sound asleep ten minutes ago – what had happened since?

'Is everything okay?' I asked, immediately coming to her side. She simply nodded to the TV, which was now on and on BBC news, where they had changed the story line to BREAKING NEWS and had a reporter telling the camera that the baby Princess was a girl and she was third in line to the throne.

'You did well,' Grace said, looking over at me with a small smile. 'Very charismatic,'

'I meant every word,' I whispered to her, sitting next to her. 'Sorry I didn't check with you first,'

'You mentioned it to me earlier, I said go out there and surprise them,' Grace said, leaning against me.

'You both okay?' I asked.

'She started grizzling as you left, I saw your texts with your Mum and turned on BBC. Glad I did now,' Grace said softly. I gently touched Lila's tummy as she was drifting off again.

'You settled her down quickly,'

'She didn't want anything, she just woke up and the second she heard your voice she was completely calm again,' Grace looked up at me then shrugged. 'Guess she'll be a Daddy's girl then,' I grinned, leaning against her trying to hide my smile.

'Grace, I'm sorry about yesterday, it was out of order for me not to pick up the phone, and to have a go at you, and –'

'It's fine, Luke, everything sorted itself out and now we're fine and we have Lila here too, so, we're okay. Don't worry about it,' Grace mumbled, leaning against me. 'Just… if we ever have another kid, or whenever, please pick up the phone when I call you more than once,' she sighed and I grinned into her hair.

'Promise – lesson learnt. You don't understand how stressful it is to help someone give birth,' I joked and she looked at me.

'You don't know how stressful it is to give birth.' Grace replied back. 'And to think you'd give birth to your first child alone – just because I said I'm not angry or wanting an apology, doesn't mean I can't joke about it,' She whispered and I kissed her very gently, only a small butterfly kiss, before resting my forehead against hers.

'I'm so proud of you,' I told her gently and she blushed.

We both took it in turns to hold Lila to make sure she didn't wake up again, and as Grace decided she was well enough to have a shower in the ensuite, I held my daughter close to my chest, no shirt on as it said in the books to enhance the skin-to-skin contact, I was amazed at how incredibly lucky I am. To have a girlfriend who brought such a beautiful baby into the world and was still joking around the entire time. Grace was something incredible and I knew how lucky I was when I took a step back to appreciate what she had done for me. She had just accepted me wholeheartedly from a few days after we met onwards, and she had completely grounded me. I was once arrogant, slipping away into the greyness of Savant existence, and then she came along and changed everything. She took everything in her stride with a bit of persuasion; she accepted my family, my status and the roles that come with it, our baby when we first found out, the constant security, and the security threats, the pointless Royal duties and charity events, moving house, and then she gave birth within my childhood home in the most unorthodox way possible and still took everything light-heartedly. She was something incredible.

'Don't be annoyed at me,' Grace whispered as she stood in the doorway, a towel wrapped around her. She looked tired – which is understandable – but she looked a bit more with it than she did a few hours previous.

'What's up?' I asked immediately.

'There are still a handful of reporters outside, including the nice BBC lady, so I ordered them pizza,' She whispered, coming over and sitting beside me.

'You ordered them pizza?' I laughed gently.

'They're going to be out there all night, waiting, so I got them pizza,' Grace simply said, running her fingers over Lila's hair.

'You're incredible, you know that?' I said and she smiled, coming over to the bed and gently sitting down on the bed, wincing slightly. 'Still sore?'

'Yup,' Grace said, leaning against me. 'I'll get there eventually I hope,' Grace whispered.

'You're meant to be on bed rest. You can get there when you're in bed twenty-four seven,' I told her and she rolled her eyes.

'I feel fine, it's just… like… painful,' Grace said. 'Obviously,' She added as an afterthought.

'Lay back down,' I ordered her, sitting on the side and she saluted mockingly before edging herself back down.

'I'm going to go insane before long just laying down, but thank God the nurses aren't constantly buzzing around,'

That very soon changed when they came in a short while later, around midnight, insisting Grace was to be monitored as she had kicked off all the monitors and turned them off – something I wasn't happy with – and when they did they found her blood sugar levels were low, heart rate and blood pressure were way too low and she was freezing. She ended up lying in the bed whilst nurses, midwives and doctors ran around talking to each other on what best to do.

'Your Royal Highness,' A doctor came up and bowed to me. I bowed my head slightly in return. 'Do you mind coming outside for a second with me?'

I looked at Grace who widened her eyes in concern and I shook my head, knowing it was normal for significant others to be taken out of the room when it came to discussing treatments, just to keep the "patient" safe. Grace seemed a bit calmer, nodding, before focusing her attention back on Lila who somehow had remained completely silent and asleep through the whole thing but chances are she would wake up soon. I followed the doctor, closing the door behind me.

'It's not overly good news, your Royal Highness,' The doctor said and I turned around to him, crossing my arms.

'What do you mean?' I asked immediately.

'We believe Grace might have internal bleeding,' the doctor told me and my heart dropped. 'There was the small haemorrhage we discussed earlier, but on second reviews of the internal examination shows a lot more haemorrhages – the physiological effects might be that described as the body goes into shock. We've called up two more units of o-negative blood to transfuse into her to try and stabilise her but if she crashed, we need your permission to take her into the theatre to be operated on.' The doctor told me and I closed my eyes. Oh shit.

'How did this happen?' I asked.

'It's hard to say – the haemorrhages could have been there from when the placenta detached itself and have just ruptured, they could have formed around the twenty-week mark and was never picked up on ultrasounds as they are very hard to see, especially if they are microscopic. Normally we act sooner than we have with Grace due to the issue with the machines, so we're under a lot of time pressure.'

'What would the operation entail?'

'Keyhole surgery into the womb to sew up any haemorrhages, and blood transfusions, the operation is a fairly low risk but it can distress baby with feeding cycles as you'd have to bottle feed her for a few weeks. Recovery time is a few days before Grace can start standing and walking around slowly and can only lift baby when she can move around, and a few weeks before she's back to normal, and in a months or so everything should be back to complete normal including menstrual cycle, and fertility tests can be taken to see how this has to affect Grace fully,' He explained and I hesitated.

'What would you recommend?'

'Sign the consent form. We won't operate unless we have too, but it's looking like it will head that way. We haven't managed to stabilise the blood pressure yet suggesting internal bleeding. Internal bleeding can lead to –'

'Cardiac arrest,' I mumbled, looking at the door. 'Okay, where are those forms?'

I was handed the forms immediately on a clipboard and read through the risks and sighed the active next of kin paperwork, agreeing on Grace's behalf to the operation. But how on Earth did this happen? I bit my lip as I handed them back over.

'You made the right call, Luke. We're going to run these over now and if she isn't stabilised in the next half an hour we'll call her into theatre.'

'Does she know?'

'No, but we can call an anesthesiologist in to talk to her now?' The doctor asked and I hesitated.

'No, I can talk to her,' I said eventually but knew I would cry as I did it. I couldn't go in and tell Grace she'd have to have immediate surgery to repair the damage we didn't even know about and that immediately after the surgery she won't even be able to hold Lila for a week or so. She'll be devastated and she'd blame herself entirely. But I couldn't let some stranger go in there and tell her that news. The doctor nodded. 'How long do I have?' I whispered.

'If she isn't stabilised in the next ten minutes, we would have to seriously consider taking her into theatre,' The doctor told me and I bit my lip. 'I'll let you talk to her now,'

The doctors, nurses, and midwives left the room on the doctor who spoke to me – who's name I didn't even think to ask – orders and I sighed. Eventually, with a bit of moral courage, I opened the door to Grace's room.

Grace was all hitched up to new machines measuring all kinds of stuff to make sure she was okay – even though she wasn't – and she looked at me with massive wet eyes.

'Luke, what's happening?' She whispered to me, her voice breaking. I walked over to the chair next to her bed and held her hand. 'Luke?' She whispered.

'Grace, don't panic, okay?'

'No, tell me why everyone is being weird and why no one is talking to me,' Grace asked, looking over at me.

'They believe you have internal bleeding from more haemorrhages from the birth – they could have always been there since you got pregnant, they might have been there longer, or they might have only formed but they believe they ruptured and they're bleeding internally. If they can't stabilise you they're gonna have to operate,' I told her and she teared up.

'Will I be okay? Will Lila?' Grace said, her eyes brimming with tears. 'Will you?'

'Me and Lila will be fine, it's not a massive operation, it'll be keyhole to stitch up the bleeding. You'll be in for only about two,'

'But how will I feed Lila? Will I be okay straight away?' Grace asked and she immediately closed her eyes as she realised the answer.

'You'll have to rest for a few days, and it'll take a while for you to be able to move and get back around, but I will be able to look after Lila fine. Don't worry about us, you need to focus on yourself now and focus on getting better,' I told her, holding her hand.

'I'm scared, Luke, how did you all go wrong?' She started to cry and I hugged her.

'You'll be fine sweetheart; I promise you that you will be fine,' I whispered. 'I promise, you will all be okay,' I told her. She continued to sob for a while before calming down.

'Please look after Lila,' She whispered, 'and call in your brother to look after you,'

'I don't need looking after,' I told her and she laughed gently.

'Please just call him in,' Grace whispered back. 'I feel so shit, Luke,' She wiped away her tears and I took her hand, kissing it. 'Is this for the best?' She asked and I nodded. If she just let the bleeds happen and the internal bleeding was bad, it would completely mess her up, cause extreme pain, more damage to her and increase the risk of a heart attack.

'Yeah,' I told her and she hesitated before nodding.

'Okay, can I go now? So I don't have time to really worry about it?' she looked over at me, and she looked really panicked as it was, and pale and sticky with sweat and so tired. I pressed the button to call the doctors and rested my forehead against her forehead.

'I love you so much Grace, you'll be fine,' I mumbled to her and she nodded – but was I just saying that to calm my nerves also?

'Okay, I'll be fine,' She said, nodding, but once again I don't know if she believed what she was saying or trying to make me feel better. Doctors and nurses came back into the room, including the one who pulled me outside and told me. He looked at me to address the question.

'Have you discussed the possibilities?' He asked and I nodded.

'She wants the surgery sooner rather than later,' I said weakly. 'When's the earliest you can perform?' I asked.

'We have a theatre ready now,' The doctor said. 'Grace, you're making the right call,' He said to my girlfriend and she nodded, tears still in her eyes. 'Luke will be fine looking after the baby for you, the operation doesn't take long and you'll be back in this room when you wake up, okay?' He asked her softly as medics started to unplug the machines, before undocking the bed.

'Okay,' She said before looking over at me. 'I love you, Luke,' She whispered. I quickly kissed her and they started to wheel her out the room.

'I love you too,' I told her as she went around the corner and I was completely left, alone, in the room that belonged to Grace before I started crying.

It was about twenty minutes later when I had forced me to stop crying and calm down as Lila woke up, wanting another feed. The midwives had come in to help me make the formula milk and heated the bottle in the midwives bay as we hadn't worked out what to do properly and I sat there with Lila, holding the bottle as she drank from it, looking at me the entire time. I had to focus on Lila at the moment, making sure she was always around me and was being fed, changed, or comforted. Eventually, Lila fell asleep in my arms again after being winded.

Sighing, I made sure I was holding Lila with one arm before taking out my phone, calling Theo who was on speed dial. Thankfully, he picked up on the second ring.

'You alright, brothers mine?' He asked me.

'Grace has been taken into theatre to be operated on.' I whispered, my voice breaking.

'What?' He asked in shock.

'She's been taken into theatre, they found some haemorrhages that formed somehow either before or after birth that is bleeding internally, she's been rushed in to sort it all out,' I told him. 'She wanted you to come in to make sure I'm okay,'

'I'll leave now, do you want me to stay on the phone?' Theo asked and I heard him get up and start moving around.

'No, it's okay, thank you,' I whispered as my voice started to strain.

'I'll be there in ten – is Lila okay?'

'She's fine, she's still with me,' I looked down at my daughter who was now asleep. 'She's okay,'

'Okay, I'm just getting a lift now so I'll be with you soon,' Theo said and I thanked him before hanging up.

I don't even know how Theo got here so fast – or alternatively, how long I was staring at Lila for – but the next thing I knew Theo had knocked on the open door and stood in the doorway looking at me. I stood up to greet him but immediately started crying. Like we were kids again, only in single figure ages, he came over to me and hugged me tightly. A few second later, he teased Lila from my arms and placed her back in her cot on the far side of the room before he walked back over, hugging me tightly.

'Grace will be fine, Luke,' Theo whispered to me. 'The nurses explained it to me as I came in – she will be fine. She's a fighter, but she needs you to be strong, she needs you to be there as she wakes up and she needs you to be calm and collective as she will be relying on you a hell of a lot. You owe it to her to do that, she gave birth to your daughter less than a day ago and now she needs you to be there for her,' Theo told me gently. 'You can't do that when you are crying. It's okay to cry, you know that it's okay to be scared and nervous but you need to be strong on the outside, even if you're crapping it on the inside, for Grace when she comes back in, okay?'

I nodded. In the media, we were always referred to as the people Prince's in comparison to other blue blood siblings and in comparison to other countries Prince's too as we were brought up so down to Earth, brought up to be so natural. Sure we had to go through all the etiquette training and we had rebellious stages, but when we started doing Royal duties with Mum and Dad, going to different countries and so on, we were always recognised as being genuine and down to Earth. In the last three years, it changed slightly. I was more of the funny, reckless one who didn't take anything seriously. Theo completely adapted to his role of Crown Prince and was more sensible and polite whilst still being the down to Earth genuine guy the country loves. I knew he would be an incredible King when it eventually came to it.

'Look, try and get some sleep now as you won't be good for Lila or Grace when you're tired. I'll wake you up when she comes back from surgery,' Theo said, guiding me to the sofa without so much of another word, forcing me to comply with what he said. And soon after, I was asleep, hoping and praying Grace would be okay.

Hiya again!

So i might need to take a small break as i have a lot of bad stuff happening and i'm in hospital more than i am out of hospital at the moment, but i thought I'd give you one more chapter with baby Lila and adorable Luke being adorable.

If you're wondering Lila, pronouced lee-lah, is an Irish Gaelic way of pronoucing it I believe. My friends cousin just had a baby a few months ago and named her Lila and i just fell in love with the name.

I hope you don't mind me taking a break though, and enjoy the chapter!


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

Grace came out of surgery three hours later, with all seven of the internal bleeds caused by ruptured haemorrhages sown up and four blood transfusions. They had to make a small incision to sew up the biggest one on the left hand side – the one that was causing the pain and they had warned us about before we knew the extent. Eventually, they wheeled her back into the suite we were in, with machines monitoring her heavily and another blood transfusion.

'Did everything go okay?' I asked the surgeon as he came in to see me. He was only expecting to see me that was clear as when he walked in there was complete surprise on his face when Theo sat beside me. He bowed as was expected before sitting down on the other sofa.

'Everything went as well as it could. We weren't sure of the extent of the bleeding which is why it took longer than expected. We also were unsure of the damaged caused by the largest ruptured haemorrhage which is why we had to cause the incision on her side. So, on Miss Williams's abdomen, she had three holes caused by the keyhole surgery, and on the left side a 7cm incision mark. They have all been dressed, and will need to be kept clean for a week until they can be removed. Grace has to take things slowly and the pain will limit her. She will probably stay laying down for the first two to three days in hospital before being able to move around very slowly at first and with support. We should be able to discharge her within about a week's time and after that she will have around a six week recovery period until she is able to do what she was previously able to do. We always tell patients who have this surgery it's similar to the recovery time of a caesarean section.' The surgeon told me. 'Some people will take longer to heal, and some will take less time. It's not a race; it is just how people's bodies deal to trauma.' I nodded.

'How will this affect Grace in relation to L… the baby,' Theo said, correcting himself, very careful not to say Lila's name.

'As she won't be able to sit for around a week, it's best to keep the baby bottle fed or discuss breast pump options, and it is possible once Grace is up and moving to wean the baby back onto breast feeding as it does provide more nutrition and is highly recommended for their diet. Skin to skin contact is also extremely important and you can rest baby on top of Grace, but it's normal after surgery to feel quite weak so it's best to rest the baby until Grace is strong enough to hold the baby. We mentioned early about a reduced chance of fertility if you did want another child, we don't think that the surgery has overly affected Grace's fertility but only time will tell as to how well the surgery takes, especially on the left side where the biggest haemorrhage was it might cause swelling and scar tissue so we recommend seeing medical personnel before trying for another child,' The surgeon explained slowly to me and I nodded.

Theo kept asking the questions whilst I just stared at Grace, the rise and fall of her chest, the mask over her mouth and nose, and the countless needles in her arms and hands. At least she was safe – I had to keep reminding myself – she did the right thing. Lila has also been incredibly good whilst Grace was in surgery, settling down after her bottle and falling asleep soon after. Now, she remained in her cot next to the sofas to try and keep her away from the loud harsh beeping of the machines. Did I put her in this state? If I hadn't been so reckless and quick with her once we first met, I would have never gotten her pregnant. I mean – she had told me she was on birth control and I took her word for it – neither of us would have known the birth control failed. But if I wasn't so insistent on her keeping the baby, would all of this been different? Perhaps not – she wanted to keep the baby as much as I did.

But what if I didn't flip my shit at her before I went to work? Would she have gone into labour so early? Was it me delivering Lila that caused these haemorrhages to go unnoticed until it was too late and they ruptured? They said it could have been prevented if noticed properly but they never mentioned who would have noticed it. They did admit they never saw anything on the ultrasounds. So it might have been me.

I closed my eyes. Did I put Grace through all of this because of my own irrational anger? I hadn't flipped off in so long. I had completely calmed down and suddenly I just lost my shit at Grace. The thought hit me like a lead weight – was I becoming like my father?

No. No – I wouldn't allow it. I wasn't going to become like him. I had to control my anger, even if I was just scared shitless. I had to protect Lila now – she was relying on me. She is my little girl. Grace will have to rely on me for a while too, probably six weeks or so, and I would do anything I could to protect my two girls.

'Back to Earth, Luke,' I snapped out of my day dream and looked at Theo. The doctor has long gone. 'You alright? You look pretty bad, like you did when you were in hospital after Afghani –'

'I'm fine,' I whispered.

'Promise me?' He said. 'I can't let you get that bad again.'

'Promise,' I told him, leaning forward and running my hands through my hair – now sticky with sweat.

'Okay, right, what you are going to do is go and have a shower, get changed, and get some sleep. I'll keep an eye on Lila for you, I know roughly what to do, and you need to be on point for when Grace wakes up.' Theo said and I hesitated. 'It wasn't a question. Shower – now.' He said firm but gentle at the same time.

I knew he was terrified of seeing me back in the state he did when I was recovering in hospital from my war injuries. Theo was four years older than me and had done three tours before I had even considered joining the army – two tours were cut short when someone had leaked his location in Iraq and the media got hold of it, causing it to be too dangerous for him, and he had to be escorted back to the UK immediately. His last tour was carried out for the full length and he had to give it up when Royal duties got too heavy. After all, he was the future King. He had the burden of learning all the trades needed to lead the United Kingdom whilst I could doss about, knowing (thankfully) the Throne will never be mine, or not until I was old if Theo never went on to have kids. I would only have the throne for a year or two before it would be passed on to Lila.

What a terrifying thought.

But Theo saw me as a wreck. He saw me recovering relatively normally and then he saw me take a turn for the worst. He knew I was having nightmares about what I had seen and he kept walking in on me within the ward awake, sitting in the corner of the room on the floor hunched over. It was the only place I felt like I could escape. He was the one who made sure I got treatment when we were in Windsor, forcing me to go. I owed my big brother a lot. Neither of us was really affectionate but I knew he knew how much he meant to me.

'Shower. Now.' He said again and I got up, hesitating before big brother raised his eyebrows at me, remind me who was really in charge around here and, as Grace was unconscious, it was him.

 **Grace's POV**

I knew I should have been in pain, but everything was a bit fuzzy and numb. I tried to focus my brain and did a bit better than a few hour previous when I had resurfaced for perhaps only a few minutes and everything was hazed and no one knew I had resurfaced from surgery. Eventually, after willing myself for a few minutes and remembering I hadn't heard Luke or Lila yet, I opened my eyes.

Luke was on the chair next to my bed. He had a blanket thrown over him and was stone cold asleep. I knew I was lying on my back and there was heavy padding over my lower abdomen and all kinds of wires and plugs coming out of my hands and arm. My head was lulled automatically to the side of the bed Luke was on and I could see the tube coming out of my elbow with an impressive looking bruise surrounding the needle.

I turned my head to the other side to see similar wires and machines next to my bed but there was no cot. I was lying down on my back completely flat but the cot with my daughter in might be on the other side of the room but there was no way of checking.

'Grace?' I heard someone whisper and I couldn't work out who was the one whispering to me. I looked back at Luke and he was sound asleep. 'Grace, look back over here,' The voice said from my left side and I looked that way.

Theo was crouched down by the side of my bed and I jumped slightly. As formal as ever, he was in a button-up plain t shirt tucked into some formal dress trousers and black shoes but he was an unkempt look to him like he had been sitting or lying around for hours on end.

'Luke called you in?' I whispered, wincing against my painfully dry and coarse throat. Theo nodded at me.

'He called me in the second you went into theatre like you asked. Do you want a drink?' He whispered back and I nodded. Carefully, he poured a glass of water into a disposable plastic cup and put a bendy straw before holding it close enough to me that I could sip without holding the cup. I downed the entire thing and he raised his eyebrow at me.

'Did everything go okay?' I asked him softly, neither of us raising our voice to wake Luke up. 'Is Luke okay? And Lila?'

'Everything is fixed up. You have a few keyhole marks on the right side of your abdomen and in the middle, and a small incision mark. They had to cut you open one side to fix the bleed as it was too big to be done via keyhole surgery so you were in surgery for a while, which is why you've been asleep for so long.' Theo filled me, sitting on the chair they must have brought in for somewhere for him. 'You aren't allowed to really move for a few days or lay on your right side, mainly because it will hurt like a bitch,' I smiled softly. 'Lila's been a gem, though, she's been bottle feeding fine and Luke had to give Lila her first wash as, well, actually let's not go into detail about that. She's just in the nursery at the moment and I'll bring her back in a second, it was just so she didn't wake you up. Luke's doing alright, he's not at this best and he was scared shitless about you but I eventually forced him to sleep,' Theo said and I nodded.

'What time is it?'

'Half three in the afternoon,' He said and I did a double take. 'Yeah, you've been out ages,' He joked.

'Does anyone know about the surgery?'

'We've called Jack and he couldn't get the day off work but he's coming up tonight and has taken a week's holiday to spend some time with you, Crystal and Xav are at Buckingham setting up the room for the baby but they said they'll come in and keep you company if you need it. We've let everyone who knew about Lila's birth know, they've all told you to rest and get better soon,' Theo whispered and I nodded.

'Is Crystal over here to find your Soulfinder?' I whispered no idea where that idea came from. Theo frowned at me.

'No,' He said guardedly but it sounded more like a question.

'Are you lying?' I asked and he shrugged.

'Perhaps. Do you want to go back to sleep or should I go and get Lila for you?' He asked me gently and I sighed.

'Can you get Lila – wait, will that wake Luke up though?'

'It might, but you deserve to see your daughter,' Theo shrugged and after a seconds hesitation I nodded. 'You can't sit up though, or really hold her.' He said, biting his lip.

'I know, Theo,' I told him and he took a broken breath before nodded. Without saying another word, he left the room, closing the door so it was practically silent behind him before I hit my head back on the soft pillows. The machines kept bleeping and hushing away as they provided me with painkillers and essential saline solution. But I was out for a while – near enough twelve hours. I know that the anaesthetic stays in your body for a while and you will just sleep it off but I didn't realise I would be asleep for so long after. I rolled my head to check Luke who was fast asleep in his chair. As much as I wanted to wake him up to talk to him, to have that comfort, to have him sit on my bedside and tell me exactly what I would have to do over the next few weeks to be back to my normal self I knew he needed as much time asleep as possible. He would have to look after Lila by himself for the next two weeks until I was allowed to start moving around – and I owed him a hell of a lot for accepting that responsibility so quick when he knew I was in pain and in danger.

The hospital bed was at a slight angle so I wasn't lying down completely, but my back was slightly raised. Slowly, careful not to make noises to disturb Luke and not to set off the machines too, I pulled back the blanket and lifted the hospital gown I was in. There were two small plasters on the middle and right of my abdomen and a massive gauze with blood stains on the left hand side. I poked it, stupidly, and gasped at the pain as my eyes swelled with tears.

It was then I noticed that BBC news was playing on mute in the background. Sure enough, Lila's birth was still dominating the main rolling headlines but rather than focusing on Lila, they focused on me. I frowned as I read the subtitles.

" _It is believed Grace Williams, long term partner of His Royal Highness Prince Luke and the new mother of the Princess of England, was rushed into surgery within the early hours of this morning. Whilst there has been no statement from Buckingham Palace or the hospital, inside sources have confirmed to us at around half two this morning, Miss Williams was taken into theatre to deal with unforeseen complications."_ It read in small chunks in yellow writing at the bottom of the screen. " _Mark, our health editor, joins us. Hello Mark,"_

 _"Hi, Lucy,"_ A balding man came into shot and his subtitles appeared in blue font.

 _"So, what kind of complications can lead to surgery so early on for the new mother?"_

 _"All kinds of things, the main suggestion at the moment were the stress from early on in the pregnancy, when Miss Williams was abducted in October and November last year, caused damaged to the placenta. His Royal Highness Prince Luke did an incredible job delivering his own daughter when times called for it, and this is no reflection on him whatsoever and he should be commemorated for his quick actions. However, the issues are more likely to be longer standing than the home delivery – the chances are a ruptured placenta that never detached itself properly; left untreated it can cause agonising pain and internal bleeding and in the worst case possible, cardiac arrests."_ Mark informed Lucy and the God knows how many who was watching at home. " _However, it is best to wait for the official statement before we can speculate too much – but I would like to wish the happy couple my sincere congratulations and well wishes and I hope Miss Williams has a quick recovery,"_

What a lovely man, I thought to myself.

Luke made a noise in his sleep and I looked back over to him. He frowned in his sleep, looking adorable, before he surfaced. He jumped awake in his chair, frowning before running his eyes. He wasn't quite with it for a while before he looked at me.

'Grace?' He asked, confused.

'Hey,' I whispered back. He quickly jumped up from his chair and crouched next to my bed.

'How are you feeling? When did you wake up?'

'A bit sore,' I mumbled and looked over at him. 'And, like, ten minutes ago? I didn't want to wake you up. Theo's just gone to get Lila,'

'Why didn't you wake me up?' He asked me gently, running his hand through my hair. 'Do you need anything?'

'I'm fine, Luke, I'm so sorry I can't help that much with Lila,' I told Luke and he kissed me gently.

'Don't worry about it, Grace, honestly.' Luke whispered to me. 'Please, please this time look after yourself and focus on getting better, okay?' He told me and I nodded.

Eventually, Theo brought Lila back in and they laid her on my chest as she slept still. I gently held her, my hand on her back. The doctors came in; checking all my statistics and everything looked good. The day after, Lila was given the go ahead to be discharged but Luke made the call to keep her in hospital with me in order to make it easier for both of us and helped to form attachments. I almost cried begging him to keep Lila in hospital and not take her away from me. I had started to recover very quickly (as Xav had come in to visit me a few times) and was moving around by the end of the week and managed to have my first cuddle post op with Lila a week after she was born and I was amazed how big she had grown. With Luke bottle feeding her and looking after he intently, she had gained a tiny amount of weight, despite most babies losing weight after birth. She had also grown a few centimetres.

Ten days after Lila's birth I was given the permission to be discharged from the head Doctor's in charge of my case. A nurse had to come around every few days and check there was no more ruptures but, as long as I took it slow and didn't do anything too strenuous, I was okay to go home finally.

The media had near enough left us alone until somehow – and who actually knows how – caught a whiff of our release and came back in their hundreds and crowded the street of the hospitals, with all sides covered, and normal people lined the streets either side. Luke signed all the paperwork for me, reading through them all and triple checking the appointments they had made for me to come back in and get check-ups, the dates and time the nurses were coming to Buckingham, physiotherapy session times and occupational therapy sheets of paper advising my ways to put socks on. Eventually, we were ready by the front door.

We stood well back whilst security staff rushed around making sure we were safe to go out and alerting the media that we were going to come out. Luke was holding one of the hospital bags with Lila's stuff she might need in the trip back to Buckingham, like bottles of milk and nappies. The bag itself was also really cute, with Disney characters all over the bag. Like he had been expected to be, he was in jeans and a button up shirt – his attempt at "formal" – whilst I was in a baggy shirt that was Luke's and pair high waist jeans which didn't rub the scars. I held a sleepy Lila in my arms, who was in a baby grow and little canvas crib shoes – ones brought my Luke after I was kidnapped.

'This is a lot of messing around,' I sighed and he nodded.

'Yup, I just want to get you two homes,' He mumbled gently before everyone was in place. Luke hugged me to his side. 'You're doing incredible,'

'You've been the one doing incredible Luke, you've looked after me and Lila for nearly two weeks now without even moaning about it. Thank you so much,' I said gently and he kissed my forehead.

'That would be because I love you,' He said to me, 'And I love Lila too,' He bent down and gently kissed her forehead.

A man in a suit came up to Luke and bowed at him, before smiling at me. 'Your Royal Highness, Miss Williams, a pleasure to serve you both,' He said formally and Luke did a fleeting smile. 'We believe we are ready for your appearance, a car will be pulling up shortly that had a baby seat in the rear ready for Baby Royal, all you need to do is strap her in. You can stop and speak to some journalists if you please, but the normal protocol is to stand on top of the stairs for around twenty seconds, panning smiled all around for the journalist before getting into the car. We have a police escort ready to lead the car back to Buckingham. For your privacy, the back windows are tinted.' The gentleman said.

'Thank you, Sir,' Luke said formally.

'God, kids, you really do like making everything tricky, don't ya?' Liam said, coming up behind us both. Liam was Luke's paramedic partner, and he wasn't overly happy Luke had gone on paternity leave for a minimum of three months and had been assigned another partner who was, according to him, an arsehole. He wanted Luke back and working with him, and until he got his way he would be bugging us. Not that I minded – I really like Liam.

'Not our fault,' Luke joked.

'No, not your fault,' He gestured to both of us, 'Just your fault,' He said pointing at Luke. 'Poor Lila better get used to this,'

'Nah, I'll work something out to keep her out of the media. She's just a kid, she doesn't need that pressure,' He mumbled and I knew the pressure caused by the media when both him and Theo were kids really did fuck him around. He was completely sincere when he said that.

'Good call,' Liam said. 'How do you feel about it all, Grace?' Liam asked me softly and I just rolled my shoulders.

'Leave her,' Luke muttered, giving his the side eye. 'She's tired and wants to get home,'

'Don't blame you, you've done really well Grace. You better stay in bed and let this idiot do everything for you, okay?' Liam said and I nodded. 'You sure you're okay? You're not very talkative,'

I wasn't going to tell him how much my stomach has started to hurt from the prolonged period of time, my legs felt funny and I was drained completely wanting nothing more than just to lay down and go to sleep. I didn't sleep well last night, looking after Lila and from nerves of leaving. I had done the stupid thing and watched videos online of other Royal's leaving with babies and even found Carolines clip of when she left the ward with Luke and saw the amount of press. It terrified me. I didn't look the best at the moment and felt disgusting no matter how many showers I had and I know media will pick that up and exploit it.

But Luke overheard my thoughts and turned to look at me sharply, a frown on his head.

 _Why didn't you tell me?'_ He said, gently taking Lila from me and gesturing to a chair. I made my way over, slouching down. Luke came over, sitting next to me and Liam frowned.

'I'll go get the painkillers,' Liam said, turning on the spot and walking back into the hospital. I leant on Luke's shoulder.

 _I was scared you'll make me stay here. I just want to go home._ I told him tearing up. He sighed, leaning his head against me.

 _I wouldn't have made you stay, but you need to tell me these things Grace. You've just had surgery and you're recovering a lot quicker than normal – okay perhaps with some help from your cousin – but still you need to be careful. I can't have you hurting again._ Luke told me softly and I nodded.

 _Sorry._ I told him and he gently kissed my forehead. Before he could reply, Liam came back around the corner and handed me two tablets – small white powdered tablets the shape and size of a 5p coin but slightly thicker and a plastic cup of water. I chucked them both in my mouth, swallowing them with a gulp of water.

'It's nothing to be ashamed of, Grace, still being on painkillers. My wife was on painkillers for eighteen weeks after the C-section.' Liam told me softly and I smiled at him shyly. 'It's okay to admit you're in pain.'

'God, you can tell you two are paramedics,' I commented and they both laughed.

'Your Royal Highness, the car has pulled up,' A gentle said to Luke before heading to the front door, standing in position.

'I'll be in the security car behind you,' Liam said, 'Good luck, kids, you'll both be fine.' He added sweetly at the end before getting up and walking straight out of the doors like no big issues. The cameras started flashing before they realised that it wasn't Luke and then the cameras stopped before the doors closed.

'Did you want to speak to anyone?' I asked Luke and he hesitated before nodding.

'Mum said it's best to talk to a few people – well, one – just to let them know that you're okay and Lila's okay,' Luke said and I nodded. 'We will be another minute or so – is that okay?' I nodded again. He gently passed Lila back over to me, who made a cute noise in her sleep and stirred slightly but remained asleep. I smiled down at my daughter.

'Shall we go?' Luke asked and I sighed before I took a big breath, nodding. I stood up slowly, Luke's arm around my waist helping me up. 'Follow my lead, alright sweetheart?' He mumbled and I nodded again. He took a moment before gently nudging me into a walk down the corridor. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that soon I would be home, able to sleep in my own bed and being able to snuggle up to Luke at night like I used to do all the time, and having food that wasn't mass produced in kitchens. The hospital had been brilliant to me, though, I couldn't fault them at all.

Luke guided me eventually through the automatic doors and out onto the concrete steps in front of the hospital. Camera's started flashing, journalists calling our names, and I winced against the loud noise and the bright lights. Luke kept his arm around me though, smiling quite happily before he gestured for the press to shh. I smiled shyly at the cameras too before checking on Lila. Luke gently touched Lila's cheek too, making sure she was okay.

I jumped as I felt another hand on my back and turned to see security behind me, gesturing the car to me. I couldn't focus on the noise around me and just looked at Luke to guide me. He gently kissed my temple as I frowned at him. He leant forward to whisper in my ear.

'Do you want to go straight home or talk?' He whispered and I knew I wanted to go home. I felt so uncomfortable being centre of attention, in pain and the scars felt a bit damp on their new dressing, meaning they were probably leaking again – a normal part of healing but not the best part. Luke just nodded and I knew he heard my thoughts like I planned for him to do and I gently went on tiptoes to kiss him. I looked over at Liam, who was in the car to one side with the window down nodded to me. I took a breath and smiled back shyly.

Luke put a tiny bit of pressure on my waist and he gently guided me to the blacked-out SUV just in front of us. He opened the door for me and I gently placed Lila down in the car seat that was on the left hand side of the car and buckled her in as Luke bent down.

'Do you wanna sit in the back?' He asked me gently.

'Er, yeah,' I whispered and he nodded.

'You're doing brilliantly,' He whispered, kissing me gently before he gently brought me around to the other side of the car, fully aware the cameras were trained on us. I had blocked out the noise from the crowd, trying to ignore that they'll be scrutinising my every move, not only how I looked and how I moved but also as a new mother, how I was around Lila, how I harnessed her in and so on. Luke thankfully was blocking most of the cameras so they didn't take too many photos of me as he held the door open. He gently smiled at me as I climbed into the car, flinching at the pain, before moving across to the middle seat and doing up my seatbelt.

'Ma'am,' The driver said bowing his head. 'Congratulations,' He said and I smiled at him.

'Thank you,' I said sleepily, gently touching Lila's tummy but she was sound asleep – somehow. Luke climbed in the front, quickly looking over his shoulder with a question look on his face. I nodded, knowing he was asking if we were both okay.

'Sir, thank you for this,' Luke said formally.

'You are more than welcome, your Highness,' He said formally, driving off. I looked out the window and saw all the press still taking photos. I knew I was tired, worn down and felt like shit but I couldn't help but think – perhaps – Callus might be planning something sinister now we left the comfort of the hospital like his message sent only two and a bit weeks ago promised.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Hiya!

Just a short chapter as i realised i havent uploaded in a while! Hope you enjoy it!


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

We arrived home with no massive deal – well, all the streets leading from the hospital back to Buckingham were completely jam-packed with fans waving flags with the Great Britain signature red, white and blue pattern on, calling names and shouting congratulations as the car whizzed past them all, Luke waving at everyone as we did – but apart from that no massive deal. We were allowed to head straight up to Luke's room without anyone stopping us.

The first this we did was go straight up to Luke's room – which had been cleaned up from any blood stains that I had caused a few weeks previous – and I sat on the bed.

'Oh God, I missed proper mattresses,' I said Luke followed, holding Lila's car seat with Lila asleep inside.

'I dunno, I thought you were pretty fond of wipe-clean stain-free uncomfortable worn mattresses,' Luke joked, putting the car seat down next to the bassinette, inside a weird bed called a Sleepyhead Deluxe which was recommended to us a few months previous and we had one in Lila's room back in Windsor which must have been brought up. Gently, he picked up Lila, holding her to his chest before lowering her down into her new bed. 'Welcome to your temporary new home, Lila,' He whispered to her as I got up and walked over to the bed.

'Sorry I didn't let you speak to anyone, media wise.' I mumbled as he put his arm around me.

'Nah, it's alright. You wanted to get home. It's completely understandable,' He whispered as we watched Lila, more than content asleep. 'Come on, let's have a nap before she wakes up,' Luke said eventually, unbuttoning his shirt. I nodded, more than happy before pulling off my jeans slowly, very careful not to touch the scars.

'I'm sleeping in my stupid adult nappy,' I joked – one thing they never warned me about was the stupid adult nappies. You'd assume only the baby would leave wearing a nappy but NOPE. The new mother has to wear them too.

'Not your finest look, Williams,' He joked back, pausing to kiss me. 'But either that or blood will get everywhere,' He said in a singing voice and I rolled my eyes.

'I'll put shorts on,' I added, finding a pair of hot pant pyjama bottoms before gently hoisting myself into my side of Luke's bed, flinching against the pain in my lower abdomen.

'Still sore?' Luke asked and I shrugged.

'They said it would be about six weeks until it's just discomfort, don't panic too much,' I told him as he laid down beside me. Like usual, he put his arm out and I rolled into his side, thankful it wasn't the side with the 7cm incision which left an awful looking scar. He hugged me tightly, pulling the thin duvet up and around my shoulders despite the warm summer heat. I sighed, snuggling into Luke's chest. 'I've missed this,' I said honestly.

'Same,' He agreed. 'Now get your ass to sleep, Lila will be awake soon,'

And about two hours later, Lila woke us up crying but before I was even able to process what was happening, Luke was up and already next to her bassinette, going to pick her up. Like an incredibly skilled father, I watched him prepare a bottle for her, feed her and change her in around fifteen minutes all whilst talking to me before lying her down on the bed next to me. I gently put my arm around her, so she couldn't really move or roll over (despite knowing she wasn't old enough to even attempt too) and my other hand on her tummy. Luke sat behind me, his leg on my back before putting his hand on top of mine. Not long after, Lila held his finger.

I knew Luke had taken a photo without even turning around but I didn't mention until Lila – about an hour later of us both talking to her and tiggling her tummy and other stimulating things they always mention in the books – drifted back off to sleep. Luke got up and put her back in her cot before coming around back into bed.

'What photo did you take?' I asked him and he smiled, lying down next to me again. He had started to really look shattered since he came back and had that brief nap. He showed me his phone – the photo had been edited on Instagram and he was in the final stages where the caption was waiting to be written. The photo was adorable – it was black and white and had me lying on my side at the bottom, and Lila in the middle looking at me, holding Luke's finger. 'You're gonna put it on Instagram?'

'Mum wants to announce her name,'

During my stay in the hospital, we had eventually decided on her middle names. As "Lila" was not a Royal name, we had to kind of redeem it with her middle names that Luke chose. Lila Charlotte Elizabeth Royal. Well – we didn't know what surname we wanted her to have yet so we just stuck with the nickname "Baby Royal" until we decided. Not that her surname would be used much – like Luke, her surname would be never used and she would always be referred to as "Princess Lila" but I wanted her to take Luke's surname. Just seemed traditional to do so even though we weren't married or even engaged and I don't believe Luke has any plans to ask me to marry him anytime soon. The middles names were the names of his great Aunt and great Nan – the former Queen of England quite a few decades ago.

'So you want to beat her to it?' I joked and he smiled and nodded.

'As long as it is okay with you, that is.' He smiled shyly.

I hesitated for a second but it would have to be done eventually – Lila's eleven days old now, and that was longer than most couples would take to announce the name of their new baby. Normally, people post photos of their newborn babies within the first few hours, expressing their weight and their names and the exact time of their births. All my close friends – and by that, I mean Mycelia and Sara – already knew about Lila's name and had come to visit me. All of my family knew so I guess it was past time.

'Fine with me,' I said and he smiled, lying down next to me. He typed out a message on Instagram before he showed me the message, a proud smile on his face.

 _"Despite being born three weeks earlier, and in the comfort of our room in Buckingham Palace in the small hours of June 6_ _th,_ _our little girl has been doing absolutely brilliant. Grace, too, has been recovering brilliantly from her earlier medical complications and we were given the go-ahead this morning to finally head home with our daughter, who slept the entire way home. So now she's home and settled down, Grace and I would like to introduce Lila_ _Charlotte_ _Elizabeth Williams-Evans"_

'She can have your surname,' I said, gesturing to the double-barrelled surname. 'Not like she'll ever be called by it,' I said and Luke rolled his eyes. 'I didn't even know your surname until a few months ago, Luke – literally like Prince is your first name, Luke's your last name – you get me?' I explained and Luke smiled at me gently, bending down to kiss me. 'And also, one day _hopefully_ you'll want to marry me, so I'd take your last name and we wouldn't have to change Lila's last name,' I explained and he just continued to look me in the eye. 'Right?' I asked.

'Yeah,' He said softly but he felt like he was covering something up but rather than asking I just leant forward and kissed him. Luke was the one to deepen the kiss this time, moaning slightly as he pushed me down into the bed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and about five minutes later he broke the kiss and I frowned. 'No, we're not. You're still sore in at least three different places and you're tired. We need to behave.' He whispered and I rolled my eyes.

'Fine,' I said – what was talking about a second ago? 'Post that,'

I watched as he took out Williams from her names, before looking over at Lila asleep in her cot before he posted the image before leaning forward and kissing me softly. 'No going back now,' Luke said, a certain look in his eyes that I couldn't place as his finger ran up and down my waist.

There was a knock at the door and we both jumped. 'I'll get it,' Luke said, jumping out of bed and running down the stairs and opening the door. I heard people talking, frowning trying to figure out the voice. I sat up the second I realised it was Crystal and awkwardly got off the bed, waddling quickly out of the room and to the top of the stairs. I watched as Crystal handed Luke a parcel-like envelope with something in it and Luke immediately put it in the top drawer of the cabinet by the stairs.

'Are you two dealing drugs or something?' I asked from my vantage point of the stairs and they both looked at me shiftily.

'It was just a present for Lila,' Crystal said as I made my way down the stairs and she came over to hug me tight.

'Can I see it then?' I said, making my way over to the drawer.

'No,' Luke said quickly and I frowned at him. 'I want you to open it in front of my family later on,' He said and I just raised an eyebrow at him, knowing he was bullshitting me. He sighed. 'I didn't want to tell you this but tomorrow the majority of my family are coming around to meet Lila which means loads of presents that we will never use. I didn't want to be the only one not to get Lila something,' He whispered.

'I haven't got Lila anything,' I mumbled.

'You pushed her our your poor vagina,' Crystal said behind me. 'You carried her for 37 weeks. You are a walking milk bottle to her. I think you're enough of a gift to her,' She joked.

'What she said,' Luke added on.

Crystal stayed with us for a while, letting me sleep on her shoulder as she spoke to Luke before feeding Lila and changing her too when she woke up again. She was going out of her way to be nice but I could only assume it was because Xav for whatever reason wasn't around and she had nothing much to do. It had just turned around half six when Crystal spoke up.

'Do you two wanna go for a walk or something, I'm more than okay to look after Lila for an hour or so?' Crystal asked. I looked over at Luke who shrugged.

'Your choice but it might do you some good to go and get some fresh air,' Luke said softly to me. 'It's lovely outside,'

'Alright then,' I said, knowing that Luke wouldn't really allow me out of the small apartment again, wondering if I could walk to the gardens and around without tiring myself out. Luke picked the thought from my head.

'We'll get a porter to take us out there and to a really nice part of the gardens. It's always been my favourite place,' Luke said and I nodded.

'You sure you're okay looking after Lila?' I asked Crystal as Luke got up and went to go and speak to security outside. 'I don't mind staying,' I asked anxiously.

'I know you're scared of leaving her, Grace, and every new parent has it, but you're only going to be five minutes away in the Gardens with Luke, go and enjoy yourself – let your hair down.' Crystal said, hugging me. 'If I need you, I'll contact you, but just take in the sights, a few deep breaths too and just enjoy being baby free with Luke, and don't you dare message me in any form to ask if Lila's okay,' I laughed up gently before she squeezed my arm and pulled away.

I heard the front door close and Luke popped his head around the living room door. 'They're bringing up a golf buggy to take us down,' He said, quickly putting his shoes on before bringing me a pair, kneeling down in front of me to slide my shoes, tying them for me. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Luke took a deep breath nervously.

'That'll be for us,' Luke said, helping me up but he seemed a bit nervous about leaving Lila for the first time. He was as scared leaving Lila as I was. Crystal hugged me, before hugging Luke and mumbling something to him. Before I could ask what, Luke took my hand and gently guided me out the house.

Fifteen minutes later, the golf buggy dropped us off at the back of Buckingham's gardens near a man-made pond surrounded by trees and well-pruned flowers. It was beautiful. The sun had started to set, causing a beautiful blushed orange sky with only a few wisps of white clouds. The buggy disappeared from sight and Luke took my hand.

'How are you feeling?' he asked me as we started to walk around the park.

'Okay, actually,' I said and he nodded. 'This place is beautiful, Luke,' I whispered.

'Yeah, I always loved running down here as a kid when I wanted to escape. There was a bench just there,' He gestured to the far end of the pond, 'I would sit there and watch the sunset, or in the night run down and just watch the stars. Despite the busy roads, it's just so… quiet.' He said.

'It's incredible thinking you grew up in a place as wonderful as this,' I said, looking all around. 'It's just – picturesque,' I mumbled.

'That makes two things out here then,' He said back smoothly, gently running the back of his finger down my face. 'I thought that we could take Lila down here when she's a bit older. The pond is cleaned out every two weeks so it's safe to swim in; it's like a swimming pool. Or even just to let her play, climb trees and so on like I did when I was a toddler,' Luke said.

'She'd love that,' I said honestly and Luke smiled. We walked in silence for about five minutes before Luke stopped. I frowned. 'You alright?' I asked and he nodded.

'Grace, right, don't freak out,' He said and I immediately started freaking out. 'I know I should never start a sentence like that around you,' He mumbled and I just frowned.

'What's up?'

'Well, please don't think this is just about Lila,' Luke sighed.

'What do you mean Luke? You're scaring me?' Was he breaking up with me?

'I never told you this before, I was scared anyone would judge me when they knew and I didn't want the person who loved me the most to be scared of me, but before I met you I was diagnosed very quickly after being brought home from Afghanistan with PTSD. I got told by my father that I was just being weak, but he and Theo had done their tours abroad before I did and were fine and I was the only one to be injured and be diagnosed after. I was in a really rough situation, I couldn't sleep, I wouldn't do anything productive, I would just sit there doing nothing for hours on end,' He said, looking away and I frowned. What was making him bring this up?

'One day, I had to go to an event about the preservation of trees with Theo and I was just so unhappy and uncomfortable being around people I had to leave. Mum was concerned about me and just to make sure she knew I was okay I was constantly checking in with her. I got back from the event, got told she was in the breakfast room with a newbie and went there and it was then I fell in love with the most beautiful person I could ever imagine. She sat there, nervous and confused – stunned even – and I just couldn't get over her. I thought I stared at her for years, and she filled up the darkness and cemented the gaps in my life but it all happened in a second or so.'

Who was he on about?

'It was you, Grace, from the second I saw you I knew you were the best thing to ever happen to me. You were my world and thank God you were my Soulfinder. That first night we met and spent together? You couldn't sleep because it was such a strange situation you mentioned. I woke up having a nightmare and went to calm myself down. I just found myself outside your door, wanting to speak to someone who was practically my world and we had barely spoken then. That night was the first time I had slept since coming back from Afghanistan and it was just because you were there. You are the most incredible person.' He sighed, looking into the trees for a second before meeting my gaze again. A deep look was in his eyes, the same as earlier when we were discussing Lila's name.

'And I just kept falling deeper in love with you. Everything you done was just incredible. You saved me, Grace, without even knowing it. Every second we shared, every time we were in different rooms and I could just hear you in the kitchen or be singing in the shower, or every royal duty I was on and you were there with me – that dance we did in Farnborough Greens, the entire time I was wondering how I was so lucky to end up with you. How did I end up with someone so understanding and perfect and kind and beautiful too? And then we got told about our baby. We have had our arguments but I have loved you for months. You are the best thing to ever happen to me, I wouldn't be here without you, I wouldn't have achieved anything I have with you, you are incredible and I'm not joking when I say you really are the best thing to ever happen to me.'

'Luke?' I whispered, wondering what was going on for him to spiel such a sweet speech. He quickly kissed me before his hand went into his jeans pocket and he pulled out a small velvet cube box and it took me a second to realise what was happen as he got down on one knee. He looked down at the box in his hand and then up at me, opening the small velvet box.

My mouth dropped and I hid my shock with my hands. Luke laughed gently as I stepped back.

'Grace, will you marry me?' He asked a shade nervous for him and I just continued to stare at him, tearing up. There was a few second of silence between us as I tried to work out what the Hell he had just said. Was I imagining this?

'No, you're not imagining this, Grace, I'm being serious,' He whispered. 'Most people answer around now, though,' He said.

'Yeah,' I squealed as Luke stood back up, gently taking my left hand and placing the ring on my ring finger, grinning the entire time as I stood there still shocked. 'You sure you're being serious?' I mumbled as Luke put his arms around my waist.

'I'm being deadly serious Grace, I want to marry you,' He said. 'Well, no, _I am_ going to marry you,' He said before kissing me passionately. I pulled away a bit later when it really sunk in.

'Holy shit, you're being serious!' I said and he laughed. 'Holy crap, Luke, just Holy crap,'

'It's just hit you, hasn't it?' He said, still holding me close and I stood there shocked. 'If it helps at all, I've been planning to ask for the last two months,' He said.

'TWO MONTHS?' I shouted and he gently kissed me to silence me.

'Yup. I was gonna ask you just before Lila was born but she had different plans – I thought it was a bit too soon after Lila to ask but Liam talked me back into doing it,' Luke said, his forehead rested on mine.

'Liam knew?'

'Yeah, I told him a few weeks ago and how best to go about doing it – he told me how to measure your ring size without you knowing and I did it when you were asleep one night. Do you like it, by the way?' Luke said and I examine the ring for the first time. It was a stunning white gold ring, a big diamond in the middle surrounded by smaller gems which formed circles before the ring split into two sections, twisting around each other before forming up again. And it was my size perfectly.

'It's beautiful,' I whispered.

'I ordered it a few days ago, got it sent to Crystal so no one really knew. She gave it to me earlier as it arrived yesterday when we were in the hospital. That's what you saw, and that's why she's looking after Lila for us,' Luke whispered. 'So I can ask you to marry me,' He said.

'Is that why you were being weird when I mentioned about marriage earlier?' I asked and it suddenly made sense – that look he gave me, the way he just remained silent.

Luke nodded. 'I thought you knew which is why I didn't say anything until I realized you didn't and you were just hoping that one day I would want you to be my wife and would ask. You didn't know today would be that day.' He grinned again, kissing my cheek. 'Now, not only are you the mother of my gorgeous daughter but also my stunning fiancé.'

'I had no idea,' I mumbled. 'Literally, none,'

'I could tell by your shock. I do have champagne around here somewhere now you can finally drink,' Luke said, looking around to try and find the bottle before pointing to a metal bucket with a bottle of champagne on ice in it.

'Wait, wait, Luke,' I said before he pulled me over and he stopped dead and frowned at me. I went on tiptoes and kissed him. 'I love you, thank you so much for everything and, you know how much of an impact you had on me. I wouldn't be the same person I am now without you being there. I haven't got a speech planned out but, just, thank you and I love you. I know I don't really react well under pressure, but I really do want to marry you and raise our daughter together,' I told him and he smiled before I kissed him gently. 'Thank you,'

'Come on, time for us to celebrate,' Luke said to me.

We didn't celebrate in style; we rather just sat under a tree as the sun set in each other's arms only having a glass or rich tasting champagne but the majority of the bottle went untouched as we sat there completely content without alcohol. When the sky turned to a light shade of navy, signalling sundown, Luke called the golf buggy to come pick us up again but I never wanted to leave – in those moments everything was perfect. We had just brought home our daughter and got engaged on the same day. I didn't have to worry about how well I was healing from surgery, or how long until we could take Lila back to Windsor or the threats I had seen before I had gone into labour just under two weeks ago. In those moments, we were perfect.

But sure enough, the golf buggy picked us up again as we sat in the back, watching the beautiful pond and the trees fade beyond a hill and trees before I continued to examine the ring Luke had picked out. It was bloody incredible. I thought I was looking at it subtly but Luke gently put his hand undermine, holding my hand tight as he rested his cheek on my head and we stayed that way until the buggy dropped us off outside Luke's small place.

We barely had time to stand up from the buggy as the door flung open, revealing Crystal in a pair of shorts and a long white top. She looked straight at me, then at my hand and saw the ring, and grinned.

'I assume you said yes?' She asked as the buggy left.

'Is Lila okay?' I asked at the same time.

'She's been a dream – but did you say yes?' Crystal probed and I grinned before nodding. Crystal immediately rushed forward and hugged me tightly, causing a slight pain but I was too busy laughing to tell her to put me down. I heard Luke laugh in the background as well. 'Oh my God! Congratulations Grace! And Luke as well, but you're going to get married!'

It still hadn't properly sunk in yet; the shock of Luke asking me to marry him had, but actually realising I was going to get married – that hadn't. I couldn't see it happening – I had never been one of those people who had scrapbooks with wedding planning from the age of four. Even in university, Sara and Mycelia had Pinterest boards full of wedding dresses, venues, themes and decorations whilst I just watched on. I never saw it happening.

In all honesty, I never saw myself getting married to the _literal_ Prince of England and having a baby before I was 25 either – but all kinds of things had happened since I was in university.

'Er, yeah,' I said and Luke laughed softly behind me and I felt his hand on my back.

'Okay, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone now, but you better text me the second you are up so we can start wedding planning!' Crystal said, holding the door open so we can slide on through. I went straight into the lounge where Lila was asleep in her Sleepyhead Deluxe on the sofa and I smiled down at her. However, Crystal had changed her clothes so I knew she had been awake at some point. In the background, I heard Luke get congratulated in the door before I heard it shut. A few seconds later, Luke's arm was around my waist.

'Crystal said she changed her about half an hour ago,' Luke said.

'I don't want to go to bed – today's been a perfect day,' I mumbled looking up at him and Luke grinned down at me, kissing me softly.

'I still can't believe we're getting married,' I told him and he smiled.

'Better start believing it. Come on, let's get you two to bed,' Luke said sweetly, letting me pick up Lila before gently putting his hand around my waist, careful not to touch the tender scars on my abdomen before guiding me into the bedroom.

Over the next few weeks, everyone had fallen in love with Lila as much as Luke and I had. Luke was posting pictures on social media every few days which lead to us having to announce our engagement accidentally. The photo, posted a week after we came home, showed me holding Lila and the engagement ring obvious on my finger. Thankfully, we had already told everyone and they were all over the moon. The media started using that photo and shared it greatly over the papers and the rolling media, meaning I couldn't escape that photo – but it was adorable. I was in a pair of pyjama shorts and a long shirt of Luke's, my hair tied up in a messy bun and no make-up. In my arms, I held Lila up on my shoulder as she fell asleep and you could clearly see the ring. But I was okay with it.

We had gone to Caroline's birthday garden party as well, which had photos publicised too, but everyone was being lovely and including both me and Lila. We were only in the Gardens within Buckingham for around six hours, being allowed back up to our room to change Lila and feed her in privacy but, when outside, she wanted to stay awake as Luke carried her around and I followed them around as Luke's extended family came over and congratulated us on the birth of our daughter and our engagement too. Friends of ours were also invited; Sara and Mycelia who found me in seconds and ran over and hugged me tight as Luke laughed. They stayed close to me the entire time. Liam and Luke's University friends also appeared as well. We ended up sitting on the grass a hundred meters away from the main garden party, happily chatting on the grass with our drinks. It seemed like Thankfully everything had ironed itself out and we were safe at last.

The threat was dropped as there was no more evidence or anything else every happened and when Lila was a month old, we were allowed to finally take her home, back to Windsor. Lila has been an absolute dream for us; only waking up twice a night at roughly the same times, and settled down very quick. The milestone checks for her had all been cleared for Lila, and her name was still continuing to cause controversy. Some people absolutely adored her name and said it suited her and was modern for a princess, whilst the elder generation complained it wasn't "royal" enough for Luke's family, and even the selected few said "Luke" wasn't overly a Royal name - kind of true - and nor was "Theodore" - which I thought couldn't get more upper-class slash Royal, even though I had never called Theo anything other than Theo.

Luke's exam results came back and he was due to graduate with a first, the highest grade possible for university students, in the autumn. He was absolutely ecstatic when the email came in and held me and Lila tight for a good few hours, not letting us go as we laid down on the futon in the lounge, Lila on my chest as he held me, his hand on Lila's back too. Even though we were tired, drained and working incredibly hard both of us knew this is where we belonged – in our own home with our daughter there.

Eventually, Luke had gone back to work for only two days a week, despite his prior agreement to three months paternity leave, much to Liam's happiness. Despite his built anxiety that I wouldn't be okay by myself and with Lila alone, we were completely fine. Luke left at six in the morning as I got up at the same time, kissing me as he left. I tidied the house before Lila woke up wanting a bottle. I sat down with Lila, playing with her in her play den that Jack had brought her. I managed completely fine and by the time Luke arrived home at just past seven in the evening.

Lila had just turned two months when we decided to leave Lila alone with Theo for the day in Buckingham Palace whilst we just spent the day together. We dropped off Lila at half five in the morning, hanging around reluctantly for an hour before Caroline literally forced us into the car, taking us to the O2 arena – not a place we were planning to go, but it was far enough away that it wouldn't be easy to get back to Buckingham.

Luke sighed as we got out the car by the main entrance to the O2, near basecamp if you wanted to climb the O2 - something I always wanted to do but could never afford to take a day trip to London once in University.

'I miss Lila already,' Luke sighed as he helped me out the car. Thankfully, it was so early in the morning that it was during the morning commute and no one really stopped to pay attention to us. He hugged me as the car drew away before resting his cheek on my head.

'She'll be alright, won't she?' I asked Luke and he nodded.

'Theo has it covered; he's wanted to spend some time with his niece for a while. She'll be safe.' Luke told me gently, taking my hand as we started to walk towards the O2.

'Where are we going?' I asked him. He had told me he had the day planned for us two but refused to tell me anything more. Luke stopped in the middle of the pathway, pulling down his shirt down over the waistband of his jeans, before putting his sunglasses on as I frowned at him but he just grinned, before digging out something from the back pocket of his jeans and handed it to me. It was a folded piece of paper and I unfolded it with a frown, turning the paper around so I could see the words "Up at the O2" across the top.

'We're going up,' He said, gesturing back to the O2 arena. My mouth dropped.

'Holy shit,' I said and he grinned, kissing me gently.

'I was talking to Mycelia at Mum's garden party, she said you always wanted to do it but going to London from Cambridge for the day was a bit too much. She was going to surprise you for your 21st but for some reason, she forgot to book it and found out a week later you were pregnant. Good thing she didn't,' He joked. 'So I beat her to it, thought if we will only have around five hours before we want to go home to Lila, we may as well make the most of it,' He said, taking my hand and guiding me to the small shack at the bottom of the O2 building.

About half an hour later, and at half nine, we were in the bright purple jackets and with the metal security bands around our waists – thankfully not on too tight around the scars – and on the fourth floor ready to start climbing. Luke had gone all out and booked us a private climb so it was just us two on an incredibly sunny morning in late July. The climbing instructor, Nikolas, seemed very surprised to see us two on his private climb but didn't say anything, greeting Luke in the bow that was expected and shaking my hand. He was extremely polite and very chatty, congratulating us on Lila and our engagement before asking us a bit more about each of us.

He hooked us onto the large metal rail heading up the O2 dome and I took a deep breath.

'It's not as far as it looks, it gets easier when past this first initial climb, it's at thirty degrees but after that, it starts to flatten out,' Nikolas said, getting himself strapped in on the other side of the purple-blue runway leading around the top.

'Yeah, it still looks bloody high,' I said and Luke laughed, gently putting his arm around my waist. He had decided to go behind me to "catch me if I fall" but I was starting to think it was so he didn't run off and leave me stranded half way down the side of the O2 building. Either that or so he could stare at my bum the entire time.

'Well, you're not wrong,' Nikolas said to us, showing us how to bend the latch to go through the metal plates on the runway bar. It took around twenty minutes for us to get to the top but the view was incredible when we were up there. There were no clouds to be seen and the Thames, which looped around the O2 looked bluer than normal. Boats bobbed up and down, from this distant looking like toys, and ant-height people continued their days – either heading to work or just doing touristy stuff. The banking estate to the West of the O2 looked almost parallel to us, and we would make out the Olympic Park in all its glory. The Emirates Airline was taking passengers across the Thames behind us, and just behind them, large cranes reach into the sky, completing buildings before starting their next on the riverbank.

'Holy shit,' I whispered, looking around as Luke came up behind me.

'Incredible, isn't it?'

'You've done this before?' I asked him and he shook his head.

'Always wanted too, never had the right person to take up here though.' Luke said softly. 'Who better than my fiancé?' He mumbled, kissing my cheek. I blushed slightly, his praise having the same effects on me as usual.

'How have I never done this before?' I said, looking at the view, which was just incredible. I walked over to one of the sides, the thick boots clunking against the metal grating at the top of the building, and looked over across the river, watching a water taxi churning the water up the river. 'Thank you, Luke,' I said softly, turning to face him but I saw him holding his phone taking a photo. I walked over and looked over his shoulder; the photo was beautiful too. It captured the stunning view across the river, but you could see my darkened silhouette standing there. Luke smiled softly, before editing the caption to just, "Can't tell what's more beautiful – the view or my fiancé." Before turning his phone on airplane mode so the photo wouldn't be uploaded before we got down the bottom of the arena.

I didn't say much to him but just hugged him. We spent the allotted twenty-minute slot at the top of the O2 drinking the sparkling water Nikolas has brought up with him (he explained normally they had champagne for special visitors, but on Luke's request he got sparkling water) and taking photos. Eventually, the next tour came up and all of them looked deeply shocked at seeing us two at the top of the O2, and we headed down much to my regret. I could have stayed up there forever. When we got down, we thanked Nikolas and took a photo with him on his phone like he asked despite it "being a bit cheeky" and brought some stuff from the gift shop.

'You ready to go to Oxford street?' Luke asked, holding my hand as we came out of the O2's food court after a quick breakfast.

'Oxford Street?' I asked, frowning.

'I heard they have a brilliant Disney store,' Luke joke. 'I know how much you love your Disney,' He said, 'May as well hit the shops before we head home, get some cute toys for Lila. She seems to love her Disney too, takes after you,' Luke said as he hailed a taxi. A black cab pulled up in seconds, obviously expecting a tourist who was loaded. Instead, the taxi driver got a Prince. The taxi drivers mouth dropped but he quickly composed himself.

'Where too, your Royal Highness,' He asked and Luke looked a bit surprised.

'Oxford Street, please Sir,' He said formally as we set off into the traffic-blocked roads. 'How did he recognise me?' Luke asked quietly.

'Luke, you literally have sunglasses on. Not an invisibility cloak,' I joked and saw the taxi drivers smirk.

It took around forty five minutes to get into Oxford Street, and Luke got us dropped off outside the massive Disney store, tipping the driver heavily and thanking him profusely before quickly letting us cross the road and into the store.

I had never been so at home as I felt in the Disney store – toys lined the walls along with cute mugs and cups and lets not even discuss the stationary. The store felt magical, and the front wall that faces us as we entered was the clock tower from Cinderella – adding to the feel of magic. We greeted the security guard before Luke handed me a basket, leaning forward to tell me I could go crazy.

Bad mistake.

About an hour later, I had brought what felt like half the store – several toys, tsum tsums, a few mugs, a water bottle with Baymax on from Big Hero 6, a few baby grows for Lila in all ages up to a year so she was fitted out for the next year at least, three mugs, a few feeding bottles with Disney characters on, two beach towels and some large Bags for Life that I knew I would be using for grocery shopping back in Windsor. I also brought Jack a Winnie the Pooh cushions, knowing how much of a sucker he was for Disney too. The lady who served me (as Luke hung back in the queue) was incredible and recognised me too, and we spent a while talking about Disney and about Lila too, and the cashier who seemed no older than twenty-one seemed to relish in what I was telling her about Lila. I had to remember that whilst Lila was my daughter, to everyone else she was a Princess and practically a Princess in training, too, and the cashier found it hilarious that Lila, whilst only just being able to hold her head up and laugh, stayed awake to finish watching Disney movies.

We got out onto the packed Oxford Street in the Soho district in central London at around midday, where workers were out getting lunch or heading to business meetings and tourists from all around the World milled up and down the street with shopping bags. No one out here gave me or Luke a second glance.

'You wanna grab some lunch then head home?' Luke asked and I nodded – I kept thinking about Lila and if she would be alright. I knew Theo was incredible with children, especially Lila, but I missed her. I hadn't spent hardly any time away from her. The only time I did was when she was asleep and I was doing housework or when Luke proposed to me. 'Lila's fine,'

'I know, I just miss her,' I repeated out loud.

'That's completely normal,'

'Are you like this at work?' I asked him and he nodded.

'Of course, I am, that's why I have one of Lila's toys in the ambulance.' Luke said softly and I smiled. Who would have though the rebellious Prince, known for joking around and not taking anything seriously at all, would make the picture perfect father?

'Still adorable,' I said, shaking my head. 'Alright, a quick lunch then,'

'There's an incredible place just around the corner –'

There was an incredibly loud bang about fifty meters in front of us, a bright flash and the street filled with smoke and people started to scream and run away, causing a stampede we were caught in. Luke and I frowned at each other before we realised what was happening – Oxford Street was under attack.

But rather than running away, his paramedic instinct and my security instinct compelled us to run towards people who were injured without even considering too much what had happened. We stopped by three girls who were lying on the floor, bleeding. We checked their pulses, finding a heartbeat and I looked at Luke as to what to do.

'Stem the bleeding,' He said to me, gesturing to the gash on the girls' leg. 'Put pressure on the cut or find something to make a tourniquet,' He said as he took off his shirt, ripping a long piece of fabric from the button, tying it tight around the girl's arm. He chucked me a strip and I did the exact same thing on the girl's leg as she started to come around.

'Hey, hey, it's okay, you're okay,' I said to the girl as she started to resist me. She was no older than fourteen, in a crop top and jeans – not that you could overly recognise it.

'What's happened,' She started to cry to me.

'I don't know,' I told her honestly. 'Luke, what do we do?' I asked and he looked up.

'Can you walk?' He asked her and she looked shocked. 'I know it's a lot to take in, but you need to get away from the impact area, even if it's up the street a bit,' He said softly in his paramedic's voice and she nodded. 'Grace, help her up the street,'

Sirens filled the air as rapid response emergency vehicles came to the scene. I did what Luke said, helping the girl stand up, leaning her weight on me as I led her around twenty meters up the street before resting her against the wall.

'Ambulances will be here soon, we just need to get back to your friends, okay sweetheart?' I told her and she nodded. 'I know this will hurt, but keep the pressure on your leg, okay?'

'O… o… okay,' She said and I quickly took off my hoody and threw it over her as a blanket, keeping her warm for when she inevitably goes into shock.

'You'll be fine,' I said and she nodded before I sprinted back to Luke where he was still dealing with the other two young girls.

'Grace,' He called. 'Get away from here, head back to the Palace,'

'No, I'm not leaving you, people need our help. What do you want me to do?' I asked quickly and he gave me a fleeting smile. There was still thick smoke in the air and you could barely see three foot in front of you.

'You still got the water in our bags?' Luke asked and I nodded, quickly grabbing the two bottles we had brought only minutes previously. 'Soak this, and soak your shirt too, stop the smoke getting in your lungs,' He said and I did what he mentioned instantly. I noticed a squealing of tyres and assumed that paramedics had arrived, or police or anyone to make sense of this. I watched Luke tie another bandage around a girls arm. 'Grace, cover your mouth,' He said.

'That won't be necessary,' A man said behind us.

'Who are you,' Luke immediately asked, getting up and gestured for me to do the same thing. I moved straight to Luke's side. I could make out the outline of a gentleman – around six foot, big built – but his features were obscure.

'You'll find out,' The man said to us simply, and I fell to the floor as I blacked out.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

 _Hiya,_

 _Sorry for the late chapter, with what has been going on in England at the moment it didn't seem a good time to put up this chapter. If you can afford to make a donation to the Manchester Emergency Fund to help the victims of not only the Manchester attacks but also the recently London attacks, please do as it will go towards the families affected in their time of need. Please don't also turn against one another in the street, we are all together as a nation and no one can break that._


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

The floor beneath me was hard and unforgiving, cold against bare shoulders and I frowned despite my eyes being closed. I knew better now to pretend to be asleep until I was certain of what I was waking up too. The chances of myself suffering a head injury were low; I could clearly remember what had happened and it made my gut drop. There was some form of attack; whether accidental or premeditated I had no idea but there was an explosion of sorts on Oxford Street – one of the busiest retail streets within central London. Luke and I went to help people. There was thick smoke and I couldn't see anything. A man pulled up in front of Luke and I before we both blacked out. Lila was safe, though, she was at the Palace with Theo.

Luke!

Where is he? I opened my eyes and sure enough, he was about three foot away from me. He didn't look too bad, and it was a small relief. He was lying on his back, legs slightly bent, mouth opened and hair fluffy as always. I shuffled across the damp concrete floor I was lying on over to this side.

'Luke?' I whispered, shaking him slightly. 'Luke, please?' I mumbled, putting my fingers against his neck and was relieved to find a pulse. But it wasn't good that he was still unconscious. I took the moment to sit up in this room and look around; not that there was much to look at. The room we were in was dark and dingy, the black concrete floor which had small puddles on, the rest shining in the light from damp, and dark cinder block walls. There was a frosted glass window on the right-hand side and a wooden door on the left.

We were dumped near the back of the room, and in front of us was an archway in the wall, leading through to a similarly dark tacky room I could only assume. The five bags we had got from the Disney store, however, were somehow resting on the wall – the people who took us let us keep our shopping?

'Luke, please wake up,' I said, shaking him again before kissing his forehead – something I know normally wakes him up. Sure enough, he grinned slightly before surfacing. He must have realised very quick something wasn't right here as suddenly, he was fully awake and sitting up and pulling me to his side.

'What's happened?' He asked me and I shrugged. 'You – you alright?' He asked, quickly running his hand around my face.

'I'm fine; I don't know what's happened,' I said as he pulled me to stand up.

'I just remember the attack, and the man, and – why is our shopping here?' he asked, gesturing to the wall. 'What the Hell is going on,'

It hit me quick; this was the attack that we had been moved to Buckingham Palace about. This was it. The message warned about taking Luke and Lila away from me and I would never see them again but they realise there wouldn't be a chance where they could just take Lila and Luke away from me – I was constantly by their sides and would be for a while so they had to take me too. I looked at Luke, about to say what I had realised when I heard a cry.

Lila's cry.

Both Luke and I ran full force into the other room and I nearly started crying when I saw Lila lying on the cold floor in the corner in just a thin baby grow. She was grizzling and had been for a while by the looks of it and was kicking out in her damp outfit. I immediately bent down and picked up Lila, holding her close to me when I turned back to see Luke. His mouth was dropped.

'What the fuck,' He whispered and I frowned at his use of language but I had thought the exact same. 'We brought her some baby grows didn't we?' He said, rushing to get the Disney bags. 'Is she alright?' Luke asked as I walked out.

I quickly checked Lila over. She had settled down since I picked her up, but her eyes were puffy and her face was red and I knew she had been crying long before Luke and I had woke up. Apart from being damp and cold, she seemed alright.

'It might be worth trying to feed her, Grace,' Luke said softly, looking up at me and I hesitated. Since the operation, I had only really breastfed her a few times for the first few weeks before deciding bottle feeding was a hell of a lot easier and it meant that Luke was also able to feed Lila too. We had looked into breast pumps but Lila was more than happy on her formula milk. 'It's not really like we have any alternatives,' He said softly and I nodded. Mildly unhappy that the person who kidnapped us could walk in at any point which I was feeding Lila, I did what Luke suggested and sure enough, Lila appeared to be starving.

'How long have we been out?' I whispered to Luke as he realised the same thing as I did – that Lila was extremely hungry – and he shrugged.

'It doesn't feel like that long,' he mumbled. I watched in silence as Lila continued to feed as Luke took out the first baby grow he found in the bag in new born sizes, as well as a Disney towel. He looked in the last bag and frowned. 'We didn't buy these,' He said, picking up a pack of nappies. 'What the Hell?' He said as Lila finally stopped and I started to wind her.

'We've been kidnapped by the people who sent that threat,' I told him and he looked back at me with wide eyes.

'The day you went into labour with her, what did that message say?' He asked me softly.

'It said that it would be a shame if they took you and my baby away from me and I would never see you again, and then people would see me for the pathetic slut I am,' I said softly, almost like I didn't want Lila to listen to what the message said and Luke closed his eyes.

'Yeah, this is them then,' Luke said, putting his arm around me and holding me to his side. He quickly checked Lila too who was now quite happy and content, 'But how would they know to coordinate the attacks with getting us?'

'Luke, the attacks was probably them,'

'They wouldn't – surely?' He questioned as I passed Lila to him. He passed the clothes other to me and I laid down the towel on the driest bit of floor I could find – over by one corner that seemed higher than the rest, and Luke laid Lila down on it. I watched as he carefully changed Lila's nappy, making do with what we had but it only confirmed how long we had been unconscious for. Without trying to alarm our daughter (who probably knew none the wiser) Luke jiggled her belly and was very quick to make Lila laugh and happy as I continued to explain.

'If it is the same people who kidnapped me then I wouldn't put it past them. They knocked out, what was it, forty members of staff to get me out of that hospital? They had kidnapped hundreds of others for staff at their base; they somehow got Markie – of all people – to give them information. They are a Hell of a lot more powerful than anyone admits; I wouldn't put it past them. They have a motive of some kind, and if that motive involves us then guess what – they have to get us, and here we are,' I said.

Luke sighed as he changed Lila, wrapping her up in the towel and holding her tight, gently bouncing her backwards and forwards.

'How are we going to get out,' He whispered to me and I shrugged.

Lila had just about settled down an hour later, obviously devastated from her time away from us – we had no idea how long it was, but it must have been more than a few hours – when we heard people behind the door. Very quietly and quickly, Luke handed me Lila before standing in front of both of us but I could still see properly.

The door was unlocked and unbolted in three different places before it opened, and three men walked in and it nearly took my breath away. All three of them were in the grey base layers, much like the men who bossed me around when I was kidnapped. I held Lila a tiny bit tighter and rested my forehead against Luke's back and dropped my shields to him. I felt him tense up and I knew he read my mind like I wanted him too and now even he made the link and took a deep breath.

'Why are we here?' Luke asked firmly, in the voice I can only assume he used in his brief tour in the army. It was a side of him I had never seen before.

'Come with us,' They said.

'Answer my question first,'

 _They'll just be frontrunners, Luke, they won't know._ I told him and he sighed, before taking my hand and following their lead. The men bowed slightly before two walked in front of us and one walked behind. I knew they had guns. Even Luke picked that up and whilst he was playing it cool, I could feel the muscles tensed in his back. The only person who wasn't tense was Lila, who had just settled down in my arms oblivious to all of this. I wasn't thankful she was here; she could be high and dry somewhere, with Jack and Markie or with Caroline, but if she wasn't here I wouldn't be as calm as I was now. I would be uncertain she was safe or even alive.

We followed the men in silence and I stopped dead once I realised where we were. We were in the exact same place I was taken when kidnapped. I didn't stop for long, not wanting the men to realise I knew exactly where I was but it was enough to show Luke I knew something he didn't know and he simply nodded. The men put us all in a lift, pressing a button with the number "5" on, the number near the top so I could only guess the top floor was "1" and it worked down.

I looked over at Luke and he just continued to look at the door, jaw clenched, and I knew he was in the military mode. I leant against him for a moment and he unclenched his muscles, enough just to put his arm around me and lean his head on mine, touching Lila's cheek before he regained his composition. I nudged him and he looked at me. I knew what he was thinking; I didn't need to read his thoughts to be able to do that.

He knew he might have to die in order to keep me and Lila safe.

I shook my head; that was not going to happen. No one was going to die. He needed to stop being dramatic. The first place they would look would be down in this tower, where they knew the men would be operating. It was stupid taking us here, but we had been gone for at least twenty-four hours based on Lila's reactions and how hungry she was and how soiled her nappy was too. They must be heading down here soon. We would just be able to escape, all three of us, safe and sound. Luke pulled a face at me before looking away and I nudged him a bit harder and he snapped back at me and I gave him a look. He was _not_ going into that room with that attitude. No one will die. I made it very clear that I thought the exact same back at him; I would die if it meant keeping both my fiancé and my daughter safe. And it wasn't just a fleeting though to make him realise what he was doing – I was being deadly serious. Lila needed that strong parent and it was clear that between Luke and me, Luke would be that strong parent. Lila always has responded a lot better to him than he has to me.

Luke widened his eyes at me and shook his head at me and I just shrugged. He sighed, before kissing me as the lift pinged.

I stopped dead on the threshold and I knew where I was. The room with the glass door – new door, but frosted – and I knew through that door was Callus' main office. Luke put his arm around me, leading me forward reluctantly. I looked up at him, tearing up, scared shitless and he smiled at me, a little nudge to let me know it was okay. But I saw the fear in his eyes – he knew where we were too. The guards forced us to walk forward and into the room where the door was on the latch.

In a split second, I prepared myself to see Callus.

So I got a Hell of a surprise when I saw who was in that room.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Hello - Sorry it's a shorter chapter, I'm still really unwell recently and this was all i had time for. But any ideas who was in that room? Hint: we all know them really well!


	44. Chapter 44

In a split second, I prepared myself to see Callus.

So I got a Hell of a surprise when I saw who was in that room.

Edward sat at the head of the table, his fingers knitted together as he looked up when he heard us enter. He had changed massively; he had lost weight and now looked ill, his pale skin almost matched the white of the table, and he was in a baggy grey long sleeve shirt despite the summer heat and crisp-folded suit trousers and a pair of white tatty trainers. His greying hair was unkempt and unwashed, and he had started balding a bit at the top of his head creating almost an island of skin. It only took me about half a second to realise what was happening and then I looked to Luke, to see how he was reacting. But the shock on Luke's face said it all.

I looked back at Edward, at my fiancé's father, and even my mouth dropped. Luke's own father had kidnapped us?

'Surprise,' was all Edward said to us, his hands doing jazz. Luke went to move forward and I held him back.

'What,' He growled and I knew Luke was moments away from losing it. I have seen first-hand how quick he snaps and loses his tether and now was not the time. Very quickly, I handed Lila over to him, knowing he wouldn't act when he was holding his daughter and he would behave himself so Lila wouldn't see anything.

'Luke, I am your father,' He whispered in a deep voice. 'I've been waiting years to make that joke,' He sighed when no one laughed.

'You son of a bitch,' I whispered.

'No, I think you're the bitch here, Grace,' Edward spat at me. 'Sit down, both of you,'

I stood there cross armed, and Luke didn't even more. I wasn't going to listen to him. Edward sighed, and suddenly against out wills we were moving over to the seats on the other side of the table and were forced to sit down. I looked over at Luke and he was just staring at Lila with tears in his eyes.

'You know, Grace, you ruined everything,'

'Fuck you,' I spat back and he rolled his eyes. I then couldn't speak anymore like my voice box was removed. I went to try and speak again, but I couldn't. I frowned.

'I'll just stop you speaking, not a big deal. You ruined everything. I was running this massive undercover operation for years, using Theodore and Luke as covers for my plan and you just waltz in and ruin everything, so much like your parents,' He told me and I looked up in anger but I caught Luke shaking his head at me. I knew Luke couldn't speak either for one of three reasons; either Edward had taken away his voice like he did to me, if he spoke he would lose his shit and try and kill Edward, or if he spoke he would just break down in tears. 'So, let me explain,'

'After I married your mother, Luke, I knew the whole marriage happy family thing wasn't for me. I knew the whole "pretend to be a decent King" thing also wasn't for me. I wasn't a good person. I didn't want to work to get what I wanted. You can't use your gifts for the greater good when you're in the most powerful family in the UK. Why would we have brilliant gifts if we couldn't even use them? That's what I never understood. It seemed pointless, tasteless,' He tutted and I looked over at Luke who was just looking down at Lila. Edward noticed the effect he was having on his youngest son and smiled slightly before looking over at me.

'So I started to use my gift for _other_ things behind Caroline's back. I found a group of people who believed the same as me and we had a plan to set up this group of like minded individuals, who believed everything the Savant Net didn't believe in and therefore banned. We believed that Savant's should be in the limelight, we should be the upper tier of humanity. We were the chosen ones of God, given extra gifts that no one else had.' He said to me and I pursed my lips and he looked back to Luke.

'I needed a cover though, for my absence, we needed to be completely undercover for it to work and to give us time to get everything together. So I told your Mum that I wanted children, and that's where Theo came in. I wanted to raise him completely normal until the rebellious child stage and get him on my side. But in his infancy, I had enough time to be sliding around and building this place, finding acquaintances. Everything had started going to plan, the foundations of this building were laid, I found someone named Callum who's gift was to steal other people's gifts. We started this project together.'

'Theo had just turned three a few months ago when your mum surprised me with the announcement of you, Luke. I never wanted a second kid – one was a handful. But your mother was insistent on keeping you. So that's how it went, you were born, I was able to sneak around so much more, I didn't even know about Caroline's friendship with your parents. Until both of you were about… fifteen.' He shook his head in disbelief.

'By then, I had the entire operation up and running, we had around four thousand members across the globe, a thousand living here. Callus was the one in charge whilst I funded everything and kept it off Government books. Theo was nineteen then, was in the army like I had planned, I knew he would come back wondering if there was more than just the bland he was living. But you, Luke, you were something else. You were all the worst traits I could imagine in one human; you were the person everyone loved. You were the joking Prince, the one so laid back and calm and easy going and what made it worse - everyone doted on you. You knew your place and you lived up to it, you were useless,' Edward spat at him.

'I got a report, Grace, that your parents had caught a whiff of our operation and was researching into it. I wasn't too concerned, we were off the file. This was until you were eighteen and in your final A-level year. They had found out so much more. They knew where we were, and our operation, why we were operating and there was a rat in the system that suggested I was in charge. Your parents were driving home with their draft document to propose to Toeskin the next day. I couldn't have that – so I got them killed instead,'

I couldn't move. Edward had made sure that I couldn't move or speak but in that moment I felt my heart stop and my stomach drop as what he said hit me. My parent's car accident, the accident that killed them and left me an orphan wasn't an accident? Had Edward murdered them? I thought I was going to throw up, to break down, to fall asleep and never wake up but instead, I just sat there like a statue trying to take in what Edward had told me. He murdered my parents. My parents would have still been there if it wasn't for him. A single tear fell as the reality started to sink in. I looked up at Luke who was staring at me wide eyes in shock as he realised what his own father had said. Luke's father had killed my parents.

The smile spread across his face like a spill of oil. 'It was the easiest move ever; it was so easy to make it look like an accident of a speeding incident that someone just crashed into the car. You had to sell your childhood home which destroyed any evidence there and it wasn't like Jack was bright enough to realise anything. You, Grace, you were my real threat. I thought this would break you, completely destroy you so you would never even think of going to university. I hoped you would piss off back to America. But no, you just swanned straight into university and I thought that was it., perhaps you would just go along and get drunk every night and I didn't have to worry about you. So I stopped bothering checking up on you. What a stupid mistake.'

'My focus went back to Luke, who continued to be slacking. But he started disappearing as much as I did and I thought "perfect – perhaps Luke was the son I needed to carry on this business!" as he started showing the signs of rebelling. But no, instead I find out he was at university doing bloody paramedic sciences? Pathetic. Eventually, I persuaded Luke into the army with my gift and he never knew any different. He thought it was his own choice, but nope. Whilst he was away, I focused on my plan to break him into my business as Theo had become a model citizen,' He explained to me as Luke just sat there in a state of shock. Edward turned his attention back to Luke.

'But like the wimp you are, you came back from Afghanistan injured. A mild injury in my books, but you went and made a mountain out of it, claiming therapy. Your mother pandered you. As this happened, two cleaners had gone against my direct permission into my own office and found the suspect paperwork. Of course, they had to go. Two more casualties on my list of many – they joined your parents, Grace – and I thought it was all perfect at last,' He said, smiling.

The sick bastard.

'The next thing I know? Caroline told me there was an MI5 graduate recruit living in to investigate the deaths of the cleaning staff and I thought "ha, like to see them do anything," and sure enough, guess who that was, who rocked up thinking they were the world and the sun shone out their arse,' Edward said with a pointed look at me. 'I knew you had to go soon, like those cleaners, like your parents, but then I realised no. You were my best plan. I needed to break Luke into the business and I hoped he would become close to you, and then I would kill you and that would break Luke to pieces and he would be willing to join this place!'

'And that's what I did. I waited for you two to come close, and heaven beholds the greatest gift there was – you two were Soulfinders! The icing on the cake, it really was. You ended up in the hospital and I knew that was the perfect time to get you Grace, when you were at your weakest, so that's when I got Callum, or as you know him Callus, to strike. Even he thought you were something else, Grace, and thought you had a place here. We would have just married you off, but it was a triple game. Callus told you he was going to knock you up and send you back when in reality he knew you would stay in this wonderful camp and have kids of the highest authority to claim back titles, but that was never going to happen. You were going to die and I would let Luke find your mangled remained so I could have my son on board with my plan like I had wanted all along,'

'But no, you escaped.' Edward sneered at me. 'Your mum divorced me, I flew back to Italy to Marcello, my older brother, and when he found out my plan he kicked me out too. I came back here, claimed my spot and watched as your fake ass filled the news. The news of you two doing your official tour, your announcement of that thing,' He gestured to Lila, 'moving in together. I was sick of it. So, I got Callus to throw a fake threat to get you in one place and it worked. You were taken back to Buckingham like I planned. Whatever her name is was born and you two were surgically attached to her and I knew to get my plan to work – to get Luke back into this plan – I had to go big. I had to put that brats life on the line for Luke to agree to come back to work with me, but to do that – Grace – you had to be removed from both of them. So I faked the doctor's reports, rigged the machines, hired fake doctors to do the dirty work and demand you needed surgery that was a life of death situation. Of course, you didn't, you had issues but they would have healed up fine, but Luke agreed and whisked you off. I was minutes away from taking Luke and Lila – but Theo bloody turned up in that hospital to sit with you, Luke, like you were some whiny child. Pathetic. I waited two months for the right opportunity after that. Two. Months. And you finally left her! So I planned the attack, got everything in place and boom. It worked fine. People died, but I got you two here, and I got a cleaning member to steal Lila for me. And here we are, at last.' Edward said before leaning back.

The silence was incredible; I was too in shock to speak. Edward was clearly mad and… and what he had done was next level insane. I had no words. He murdered my parents. He kidnapped me twice to try and break Luke. He faked an operation to try and get me away from his son. My vision was blurred and I wondered what Edward was doing to my sight and I realised I was crying. I looked up at Luke who just sat there, silent.

'Was my story telling too much for you kids?' He sighed before shaking his head. 'Whatever, I'll get someone to take you to your rooms. I'll call you again when I know what to do with you and _hopefully_ by then you can use your words I have given you back,' Edward said, getting up and leaving the room and I felt his grip on my voice and my body go as I curled up and started to cry.

I don't know how long it was until the door opened again with people in grey baselayers, all with guns, told us to get up as we were being taken to our room. I was numb, completely hollow trying to comprehend what we had been told. My parents were murdered by my fiancé's father in cold blood. I was kidnapped by my fiancé's father and was meant to be murdered by him too if I didn't escape when I did.

'You're being taken to your rooms. Edward and Callus had made it clear you are to be treated like special guests and will, therefore, get the penthouse suite,' The man said in front of me but his words didn't make sense as my mind was still going a hundred miles an hour when I tried to understand what Edward had told us. I followed the grey men, quickly checking Luke was behind me with Lila safe in his arms. Luke still looked shell-shocked, tears in his eyes and he went to meet my eye but I looked away, not knowing what to think.

I didn't blame Luke for this, though, but I just needed a few minutes to comprehend what had happened.

Edward, from a young age, was always against the Savant Net and everything good, had set up this god awful anti-Savant camp that we were in under the shield of his old Royal title. He had Theo as a shield for his work as he coordinated the kidnapping of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of innocent children. He wiped them of who they are and shaped them into monsters. Monsters that killed my parents.

I went in the lift with the men and Luke beside me as my throat seized. My parents were murdered my Edward. Their car accident that killed them was no accident. My Mum and Dad, my own parents, had found out the work of Edward, their own friend, and Edward got them killed. I was used as a pawn to break Luke. Edward kidnapped me, planning to murder me or whatever it was, but I escaped. He faked a life-threatening operation on me to try and get Luke and Lila again. He caused some kind of explosion when we left Lila for the first time to get us here. He had strictly targeted me, Luke and Lila and I think that's what made me feel sick. Not that he targeted me – I overcame that thought when I was kidnapped the first time around – but Edward targeted his own son and two-month-old granddaughter.

I don't know where I was, or how long I spent walking, but a solid door was opened and I was pushed into the room. I didn't move, I just stood there in shock trying to comprehend what was happening. Luke followed me into the room in silence, deadly white and just stood there for a moment.

The room we were placed in looked like an expensive hotel suite; we were in a lounge-looking room, to the side of us was a cupboard and just past that an oak baby changing table. In the far corner of the room, a large flat screen table on a matching TV stand. There were three leather sofas and then an armchair to one side, a small coffee table in the middle. Just behind, a dining table. On the wall in front of us, there were three large wardrobes, all of them with a full-length mirror on the front. There was a half-length wall in the middle with a barrier across the front. On the other side, there was a really large plush bed. But there were no windows at all. I could just see in the car corner, where there was a door, I could make out a small cot. As I examined the room, Luke walked over to the bed and placed down Lila on the bed.

But we still hadn't said anything to each other.

I watched as Luke made sure Lila was okay, but he was completely emotionless as well as he leant forward and kissed her forehead before he just looked over at me. I watched as he took a deep breath rubbing his upper arm – something he only did when he was uncomfortable.

'Grace,' He said softly, his voice breaking as he held back tears. 'I am so sorry…. I…' Luke went to say and instead I just ran over to him and fell straight into his chest. Luke immediately wrapped his arms around me hard, holding me tight to him as I started crying into his chest. How has he happened? I knew Luke was crying into my hair as well and for about fifteen minutes before Luke stopped crying and I had slowly started to stop crying and calm down.

'Grace, I am so sorry this happened, I caused it and I don't even know what to say or what to do, if you want to leave me and take Lila with you I won't blame you and…'

I hit his arm and he stopped his spiel. 'It's not your fault Luke,' I mumbled, wiping my eyes.

'He's my dad though,' Luke whispered.

'You said he's not your Dad anymore,'

'He's not,' Luke mumbled. 'He wasn't since he left, he's nothing to me.'

'Then it's not your fault, is it, he's not your Dad. I'm not going to leave you either,' I mumbled, hiccupping as I started to shake. Luke sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled me into his lap, making sure Lila was fine at the other end of the bed. He held me tight. 'Unless you want me to leave,' I mumbled.

'No, don't leave.' He whispered holding me tight. 'Please don't ever leave me,' He almost begged and I nodded as I sat there in his lap as he held me tight. 'I am so sorry about your parents,' He mumbled to me and I took a shallow breath as Luke pressed his lips against my temple.

I didn't reply what could I say?

'What do we do?' He mumbled.

'I don't know, Luke, I really don't even know what to do anymore,' I whispered to him. 'I'm guessing they're looking for us and as long as we stay here, they'll come and get us – whoever they are,'

'We just have to remain safe until then,' Luke mumbled and I nodded before I rested my head against Luke's chest. 'Go to sleep, sweetheart, I'll stay awake and keep an eye out.'

'We can't sleep, Luke,' I mumbled against him.

'We don't know how long we'll be here for, you need to be able to look after Lila and feed her and so on,' I must have pulled a face about feeding her as Luke kissed my forehead. 'I know you don't like breastfeeding her, Grace, but we don't have another choice,' He mumbled. I sighed and nodded, knowing there was no alternative, and if it meant Lila was okay then I was willing to do it. I would do anything to keep Lila safe. 'You're doing incredible,' Luke told me.

'I'm still annoyed at you,' I huffed as he hugged me, his hands rubbing my back as he held me close. He made a sound as he kissed my forehead. 'You went in there thinking you would die to protect us. That is not going to happen; we will all get out safe and sound,' I told him.

'I know, I just want to protect you – to keep you and our little girl safe,' Luke said to me and I nodded.

'and I just want to keep you and Lila safe too, Luke,' I told him, 'But we're all in this together. We can work something out, we can stay here happily until we are saved but we won't go down without and fight and no one will die.' I said and he nodded. 'Promise me no one will die,' I said.

'I promise,' Luke said before he scooped me up and laid me down on the left hand side of the bed, tucking me in. I frowned as Luke went around the other side of the bed, picking up a sleeping Lila before shuffling into the middle of the bed, laying her next to me as she slept before he shuffled into the right said on the bed. Luke tucked himself under the sheet before he rested his forehead against mine, both of our fingers interlinked across Lila's tummy. Luke put his hand around my neck, keeping me close.

'Go to sleep, I'll wake you up when we swap turns,' Luke said to me softly, moving his hand from Lila to rub my hip. 'I love you so much, Grace,' He whispered and even in a scary environment, being kidnapped by the man who murdered my parents, who was the father of my fiancé and the father of my daughter, but I felt safe in Luke's arm.

/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\

Hiya!

So here it is - Edward, Luke's father, was behind all of this madness and hopefully, the gaps in the story now make sense! Also - PurpleMentos suggested writing a book after this based on Theo. I really don't know, i never planned anything after this, but would you read it? I won't do it if no one wants it. Please let me know :)


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

 **Luke's POV**

I laid there for ages, just staring at Grace and Lila. They were both fast asleep, Lila completely oblivious to anything that was different and was settled down now she knew her parents were around, and Grace who is completely struggling to accept everything. They had been asleep for about four hours now and I knew it wouldn't be long until Lila woke up, either wanting a cuddle, feed or a change. But it gave me time to really think about what had happened.

My own father, the man I looked up to for easily eighteen years before I started to rebel against him, had caused so much pain to not only myself, or Grace, or my family for that matter, but hundreds of innocent people. He had children to hide his true intentions. Theo and myself were simply facades. We were masks for the work he was doing. We weren't his "loving kids" he cared about so much for, as the media stated, we were only here to hide his hobby, his work. The only reason we were born was to hide his dirty work from Mum and the public. For twenty-four years, minimum, he had been building a camp of sorts to cause a Savant rebellion against the good. For as long as I can remember, I was always on the "good" side of the Savant Net. Because of our status, we weren't allowed to officially join the Savant Net and we weren't allowed on any record and no one would know of our gifts, but the current running manager and founder of the Net knew of our existence and our gifts and we were on their side and if a time came, we would help. But my father was against that?

Hell, he was the threat against them.

I placed my hand from Grace's waist onto Lila's tummy and sighed. All the time he wasn't around when we were kids, Theo and I just assumed he was doing Royal business. Mum just assumed he was doing Royal business too. Even though the throne was on Mum's side, she assumed he was doing all of the paperwork and business so she could spend time with us rather than the old family "tradition" of being brought up with a Nanny. But instead, he was finding a way to destroy us and all we stood for.

I bunched up my fist in anger before relaxing myself. I can't get angry. I won't be responsible for what I would do when angry, and with my fiancé and my child in danger to I had to be on hand to protect them. For now, at least, I had to keep my calm. He tried to break me and Theo to join him. We never did. He forced both of us into the Army in hope of breaking us – but no. We were just rebelling against him as a legitimate authority figure. The standard "fuck you" effect – he wanted us to do something, we rebelled against and done the opposite. Theo went straight into Royal duties and I went to university.

At the same time, Grace's incredible parents were doing work to stop Edward, Callus and their other minions they had at this point. They had enough paperwork to file a case opening against them – the husband of their best friend. I wondered if Grace's parents ever told my Mum anything. Probably not. Mum would have done something sooner if they had. She would have got rid of Edward in a Edward found out about the case proposal and caused the crash that killed them. I wonder if Mum knew Grace's parents died because of Edward or not. Surely she wouldn't have. If Mum did know, Grace's parents died because they found out what her husband was doing, she would have got rid of Edward in a heartbeat and would practically adopt Grace and Jack too. I knew she would be kind. But it still hit me hard.

Grace's parents didn't die by mistake in a freak crash. They were murdered by my Dad.

I think that was the thing that really got to me. My own _father_ caused the death to both of her _parents_. She was an orphan because of my Dad. The issues that she had following the crash; the grief, depression, money problems, everything – it all stemmed back to my own father. And I was half of his DNA. I was half him. What if whatever made him so screwed in the head was genetic? No – I couldn't accept that. I wouldn't allow myself to become like that. I looked down at Lila, who was lying parallel to my shoulders, both of her hands above her head as she slept and I couldn't help but smile at her. I could never hurt her in the same way my father hurt me and Theo. I would never become like him.

He then accepted Grace and Jack as both useless and didn't bother checking up on them before focusing back on Theo and myself, who were still disobeying him. I remember those two and a bit years clearly. He was always absent, and when he was around, he was ordering Theo and myself to do stuff. But he didn't just order us. His Savant gift was to make you do stuff. Like in that room earlier, he forced us to sit down, not move, and not speak. I wanted to scream, lash out, attack him but he forced me to look down the entire time and I was unable to speak. I don't know if he did anything to Lila – but if he did, I would kill him there and then.

The cleaning staff found notes of what Edward was doing when they were cleaning his office against his permission and went to hand them into security. I could only wonder what they found in order for them to want to hand them in. But, the next day, the cleaners didn't wake up. Mum, concerned about the mysterious deaths, got Kieran to find a live-in graduate hoping to find out what was happening with a generic media leakage and the deaths, and sure enough, Grace was brought in a week later.

Edward wanted her to be the weapon to break me. He tried to break us apart almost knowing we wouldn't, so he used her as a pawn to break me. I moved my hand back to her waist, rubbing her side gently as she slept. He kidnapped her, got Callus to do the dirty work, tried to get her to believe Callus would free her, albeit pregnant and married to him in a cheese-holed plan, but the real plan by Edward was hundreds time more sinister. He would murder Grace and leave her mangled remains for me to find. I nearly threw up thinking about it before biting back the tears. But, as incredible as ever, Grace escaped at the same time we came to find her and we got her out (injured, but alive). The next few months happened, and it was all good apart from the issue with Markie, Edward and Mum divorced and he pissed off out of our lives for good.

Or so we thought.

Nope. He went for round two as Lila was born. He faked the medical records for Grace to get her into "critical surgery" when she didn't need to – to get me and Lila alone. We would have been alone; too, if Grace didn't beg me to call Theo before she went. I hesitated for a second – what would have happened if I didn't call in my big brother to the hospital then? It wasn't worth thinking about.

Edward instead threw into place a terror attack of sorts to kidnap Grace and myself and got a cleaning member of staff to take our two-month-old daughter from Buckingham Palace to wherever his camp was – South Cornwall somewhere.

I was furious.

Grace wasn't taking it very well and could I really blame her? She had just found out the living hell she's had with me for the last eleven months, as well as stemming back even further to her parent's death, was all a product of my father. The man who appeared so nice to her when she first arrived at the Palace before turning into her worst nightmare. I examined her as she slept. Her blonde hair was messy and greasy on the roots and was going everywhere but somehow it still framed her face. Her eyelashes looked perfect as she slept a very slight frown on her forehead. Her mouth was open – only just as her chest rose and fell. She still kept her hand on Lila's chest over her heart, and her other arm was under her head. I gently touched Grace's cheek as she slept, almost apologising again. She had told me it wasn't my fault but I couldn't help but feel the deep rooted guilt in me. If she never met me, she wouldn't have been targeted. It wouldn't have brought back her parents, true, but she wouldn't be as deep in shit as we are right now. I took a deep breath.

I tried contacting anyone telepathically but there was a block around us so we couldn't. I could sense Grace, but that was it. There was no way of me finding a wavelength to anyone at home to let them know I was safe and alive.

I didn't even notice Lila wake up until she started to cry. I sat up quickly, taking care not to hurt Grace in the process. But just as I was about to pick up Lila, Grace jumped awake hearing Lila cry.

'She's okay,' I whispered to Grace as I picked up Lila and Grace frowned. She looked incredibly warily for a second as she sat up as I held Lila tight to me, trying to comfort her. Eventually, Grace realises what was happening and it was just our baby daughter waking up for a feed like she normally does, still too young to sleep through the night.

'Does she need a feed,' Grace asked sleepily and I hesitated before nodding.

'I guess,' I mumbled, handing Lila over. Grace rubbed her eyes as she sat back against the headboard of the bed before she started to feed our daughter. I eventually sat down next to her and put his arm around her as Grace leant into me slightly.

'You haven't slept, have you?' She asked me gently and I shook my head.

'I was making sure you were alright,' I mumbled back.

'Try and sleep now Luke, I'll keep watch.' She told me again and I hesitated before nodding, lying down on the bed watching Grace. 'I love you, Luke,' she whispered ever so faint, almost like she was muttering it to herself. I gently rubbed her back.

'I love you too,' I told her back. 'We'll get through this,' I mumbled but she didn't reply.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

I wasn't sure of how long had passed as we remained locked in that room, but I guessed from the food delivered that it had been roughly two days. Four times a day, a hatch by the door would open to two meals and some supplies for Lila. At the time I could only assume was morning, bowls of porridge and tinned fruit would arrive, at lunch a sandwich and a salad for both of us, in the evening broth or soup was served with freshly made bread and more fruit, and the fourth meal normally consisted of weird, hard biscuit-like oat snacks. Nappies and clothes arrived for Lila in her size and to our surprise some toys as well.

The wardrobes were full of clothes for us and deep inside one of the drawers, Grace found a sewing kit and started to sow her way to make a baby harness for Lila so, when the time came for us to be collected from this room, we could carry her against our chest compared to in our arms, in case we needed to make a run for it.

It came to the ninth meal, porridge again with fruit which we ate at the small table, Lila happily asleep on the bed still, when the TV turned on. Grace frowned at me, before focusing on the static screen.

'Odd,' She mumbled. I got up and grabbed the remote from the side and handed it to her as she switched to the news channel. Sure enough, the TV obeyed and I knew we had been given access to the television now, either to try and scare us or because we were behaving.

'The death toll from the bombings within Central London four days ago has risen to 92, where four explosions happened simultaneously on Oxford Street during the middle of the day. Over three hundred were injured, and eighteen remain in critical condition in hospital.' The TV presenter explained and Grace closed her eyes as I leant forward and held her hand. 'His Royal Highness Prince Luke, Grace Williams, fiancé to the Prince, and their two-month-old daughter Her Royal Highness Princess Lila have all gone missing in the attacks. It is believed that Prince Luke and Ms Williams had decided to spend the afternoon in London, their first time being away from their newborn daughter when the attacked happened. CCTV footage shows the pair, only meters away from one of the blasts, running to help those who had been injured before a van pulls up next to them before they collapse,' They ran the CCTV at the same time and you could see clear as day Grace and I helping the two teenage girls on the floor as the van stopped, a man started to talk to us and we both fell on the floor. I knew he was a Savant which is why we collapsed. It was his gift. 'It is believed that a chemical was used in the gas to knock out the Royal pair before they were both taken away. Princess Lila was at Buckingham Palace with His Royal Highness Prince Theodore at the time of the explosion, where a similar gas was used on Prince Theodore before an intruder takes Princess Lila. Prince Theodore is in hospital recovering,'

Grace squeezed my hand as I felt sick after hearing what had happened to my brother. Had they gassed him to kidnap Lila? I tightened my hand before releasing, knowing not to get angry. That would be what Edward would want – to follow his steps. I wasn't going to give him that pleasure. But Theo was in the hospital?

'Do you think Theo is alright?' I asked Grace frowning and she nodded.

'It would only be chloroform, it'll be out his system by now and it'll be precautionary measures,' Grace said softly. I couldn't help my stomach churning and Grace knew that. She got up to hug me but I pulled her onto my lap.

'God, we're in a mess,' I mumbled to her before kissing her cheek, glad she was safe and well but I couldn't help but wish she was high and dry from this entire situation, with Lila to keep her company. At least then I knew they would be safe, away from this Hell hold. Grace continued to watch TV as I bit my lip, watching her sitting on my lap. She is way too pure to have ever got caught up with this. She was innocent of the ways of my family, untainted as such. So was it my interaction with her that caused her to be involved with things like this?

 **Theo's POV**

I felt like I was copying my younger brother's words as I waited in the office with the various head of departments or high up officials, waiting for the decision on the operation to find Luke, Grace and Lila.

'If we know where they are, why can't we just go and get them,' the words near enough mirrored Luke's words he shouted across this exact room at me when Grace was kidnapped. Now, it was my turn to express the anger and concern. However, this operation was completely different. When we were all hunting to Grace, she was regarding as a lower-class citizen despite her relationship with my brother. Now, with Luke and Lila gone as well, the Benedict's weren't _officially_ allowed to touch the case.

Not that they listened to the advice doled out by the secret service.

We already know Luke and Grace were taken down to the exact same place we had found Grace in October last year in South Cornwall. We could only assume Lila was taken there too. They had all been gone for three days now with no sign of any kind of ransom or contact from them. We had expected the attack to be run by Callus, but he had been arrested the day previous; meaning that Luke, Grace and Lila were being held hostage after their abduction by someone completely unknown to us.

'You know better than anyone, Theodore, that we can't risk the failure of the operation that happened last time, the injuries to all three of them could be more catastrophic than what happened to Grace previously.' Kieran said across the table from me and I frowned at him. Who did he think he was?

Head of security at the Palace, I reminded myself.

'You have yet to check the place we found Grace last time, though, that is where they are most likely to be.' I explained and there was almost a collective sigh around the table where I sat. Eight people joined me and mother; some high up police officers, secret service members, and security members from the Palace as well as some other faces I didn't recognise. Mum sat next to me completely heartbroken and remaining silent. The machine next to me started to beep and I turned it off quickly.

As Luke and Grace were attacked a few less than two miles from here, a simultaneous "attack" of sorts happened within the Palace. Lila had just got to sleep in her travel cot in one of the studies as I continued to reply to emails and other standard house-keeping tasks when a chambermaid brought in the mail including a medium-sized box in kraft paper wrapping. I accepted them, leaving them to one side not even thinking about the parcel even though I knew I had nothing on order. Five or so minutes later, the parcel exploded – only a tiny explosion, enough to blow the box open – and it filled the room with acrid smoke which eventually knocked me out. I came back around in hospital on a ventilator. The gas, a substance with a stupidly long name, starts to paralyse the bronchi in the lungs reducing dramatically the amount of oxygen that can be taken in and takes about a week to burn out of your system. Until then, I was on an oxygen machine, with pure O2 being pumped through my nose via plastic to make sure I would collapse and pass out again.

We didn't know if Lila had been exposed to the gas, either, as the effects on her would be so much worse than the effects on me. I knew if something had happened to my niece, I would never be able to forgive myself.

'We need to be careful with such a delicate operation, Theo.' I got told patronisingly. 'If they are in there, we can't just stroll in and get them and walk back out again. We are wondering now if Callus had a work partner or was simply just a puppet for the man in charge, and if Callus was simply a puppet, how powerful the real man in charge is. We know the main priority is keeping the trio safe and until we know in depth information and have a safe and secure way to get them all out without injury, we cannot act.'

'So all three of them are just stuck there until we know for certain they are there?' I asked back. I got a very simple, blunt reply.

'Yes,'

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Grace's POV**

I held Lila close to my chest as I hugged her tight, not wanting to let her go. Luke had gone in the shower very briefly. In the four days since we arrived, we had not been called. Food had been delivered, washing had been sent down the shoot labelled laundry and had been returned a few hours later, and power had been restored to the television but no one had come for us yet. So we just hung around the apartment we had been given, focusing heavily on Lila. One of us would stay awake at all times with her whilst the other one rested at nights, and during the day we let her sleep on our bed whilst we either read the tatty books on the bookcase or watch the limited TV we had been allowed.

Lila continued to look up at me as I recited one of her baby books to her, watching her grin at me and holding my finger as I continued to speak to her.

'I'm so sorry I got you caught up in this, Lila, I wish you were safe,' I said in a silly voice and she smiled up at me, laughing slightly.

I jumped as Luke came out of the bathroom, putting his arm around my shoulder as he came my way. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and standard boxers that had been provided but left his chest bare. Wherever we were, the temperature has started to rise dramatically to the point that you were sweating without really moving. I was in a simple tank top and leggings and in an attempt to keep Lila cool, she was in just a nappy. Luke kissed my forehead before he bent down and kissed Lila's forehead too.

'And how are my two beautiful girls?' Luke grinned almost as if nothing was the matter. He looked at me and I noticed something was different and I frowned. It was almost like he was calm like he worked out what he needed to get out. I went to reply with a sarcastic comment or a leading question but we both jumped as we heard the door pull back. We knew it wasn't time for any meals. Luke pulled me quickly to stand up before standing in front of me and Lila. As the door opened, Edward stepped into the room.

'Son,' He said, bowing his head and I could feel Luke's anger rise in a matter of seconds. 'No? Still, no family affection despite me supplying you with luxury?'

'Whatever this is, this is between me and you. Let the girls go home.' Luke said and I glared at him. He never mentioned this to me. He put his hand behind his back, trying to find mine. Gently, I held his hand and he squeezed it, almost trying to comfort me. But I stood there in shock – what happened to we're in this together and we will find a way out? 'They were never a part of this, and Lila is just a baby. Just let them go,'

'No,' Edward said bluntly. 'This is more than just between me and you now, and it has been ever since Grace stuck her nose into it, digging around. She's been trying to rat me out ever since she's arrived at Buckingham. It's a shame your bratty kid got caught up in this, but I'm sure you'd rather her be with you here than with that older brother of yours, or even your reckless mother,' Edward sneered and I squeezed Luke's hand, reminding him to remain calm.

'Grace didn't know what she was doing when she came to Buckingham; she was never investigating you personally –'

'Even so, if I let them go they would have to fend for themselves outside this places' perimeter and its miles upon miles away from the closest town – they won't make it that far. You should be thanking me, Luke, for keeping them both alive,'

'How can I thank you when you have single handed destroyed our family?' Luke asked, frowned. 'You kidnapped us three, and hurt Theo in the process – and Mum…'

'I don't care about them, Luke, why haven't you worked this out yet? I don't even care about Grace and Lila, I only took them so you would be cooperative with me. I knew, without those two, you wouldn't do what I ask,'

'I will be cooperative if you let them go and place them near a village; they were never a part of this. Lila is just a baby, she needs her Mum. Please, I will do whatever you want of me if you let them go,' Luke begged his father.

'Luke,' I whispered.

'Grace,' He mumbled, turning around and shaking his head at me.

'Don't do this,' I mumbled back to him and Edward smiled. 'Please, Luke, don't do this,' My tears were caught in my throat. If he lets me go, I will never see him again. Well – that was the chances. He might never be seen again. What if he disappears off the radar and I'll never see him again?

The silence was deadly in the room. I couldn't believe what Luke was asking his father to do. I thought he made it very clear we were in this together and here he was, asking for me and Lila to be released and for him to be converted by his crazy father. I started to cry silently. If we were released, I would never see Luke again. He will be forced to do things against his will and I will be left to raise Lila alone. I'll never see the man who means the world to me again. I looked at Luke's back, his broad shoulders as I cried silently. He can't do this.

'I'll take them up north somewhere and leave them in a park,' Edward said. 'You've got a few minutes for your final goodbyes as you probably won't see each other again,' He said bluntly before Edward strolled out the room with an air of smug confidence to him. The door close and Luke immediately turned to me, wiping away my tears.

'Luke, what the fuck,' I cried to him. 'Why would you do that, how will I cope without –'

'Grace, listen to me. Security forces are not acting because there is too many of us here of high status to risk an operation after what happened to you. They can't risk it until they know for certain we are here. They told me that in training. That is why they are not here. It takes a maximum of five days to set an operation if they know where we are. It's been over that, so they won't act until they have official intelligence.' Luke told me, hugging me tightly. 'You need to get to Theo or Mum and tell them where I am. That will be enough for them to set the operation into motion to get me out. Edward will try and wipe your mind but you need to focus on something so hard, think of everything you can about that event so it will be lodged into your mind and it won't set. Think about our engagement, how I did it, think of everything. Focus on that.' Luke told me very quickly and quietly as he hugged me tightly, Lila between us.

I realised he wasn't being a dick and getting us out for no reason; he was doing it to save all of us.

'In case that doesn't work, look after yourself and Lila for me, alright?'

'Luke, don't talk like that,' I said in tears.

'Grace, just promise me –'

'No,' I whispered. 'You'll be fine, you have to be,'

'Of course, I will be fine, I haven't got this far in life to bail out when it all gets good,' He said smugly, 'but just say you'll look after yourself and Lila for me, I just need to hear you say that,'

'I'll look after Lila,' I mumbled.

'And yourself,' he added.

'And myself,' he nodded before lifting my chin up, kissing me hard and passionately. He pulled away and I was aware this might be our last kiss and I started crying again. 'You know what to do, don't you?' Luke asked and I nodded. 'I love you so much, Grace, thank you so much for everything,' Luke said to me, his tone laced with fear. I handed him, Lila as I got up and paced anxiously on the floor by the bed, sobbing. 'Hey, Lila, you be a brilliant girl for Mummy now, okay? You stay with her and be a little angel for her, and make sure you look after her too,'

'Luke, stop making it sound like you're gonna die,' I begged him and he looked up at me and in that split second, I saw bone-chilling fear in his eyes and I knew he was thinking there was a chance he wasn't going to make this out alive and I turned back around to cry.

'Just, you two look after each other, okay?' Luke said to Lila before he got up, pulling me into his side. 'I love you both so much, don't forget that ever,' Luke mumbled before bending down. 'Of course, I'll be fine, I'm engaged to a kick ass military security guard who works for the Royals, and I'm in safe hands. I'm just playing the act, Grace; you know what you have to do.' I nodded, not entirely sure if he believed what he was saying. 'Do me proud, sweetheart,' He whispered to me as I cried into his chest.

'I love you so much Luke, please don't make us do this,' I mumbled to him.

'I have to keep you safe, Grace, I have to keep you and Lila safe,' He repeated. Luke very quickly let go of me and grabbed the makeshift baby carrier we made, taking Lila and placing her in it, tying it to me as I sobbed. He then grabbed a necklace chain, taking my engagement from my hand, showing it to me before threading it onto the chain before he put the necklace on me. I knew why; it didn't look like a massive change but whenever I would land with Lila I would notice it was missing, therefore trying to find me and reminding me on the focus I would have when Edward would try and remove my memory. I smiled at Luke; nodding as he grinned knowing I had worked it out. He very sharply kissed me again and kissed Lila's forehead as the door opened again.

Edward strolled in with several guards now, one of them with a hessian sack to presumably go over my head. He gestured for me to come over to him and Luke gently pushed me in his direction and I turned back around, trying to remember exactly what he looked like; his fluffy blonde hair I used to take the mick out him for, his shining blue eyes that were swimming with tears at the moment, his high cheek bones and strong features and the way he held himself, even though at the moment he seemed defeated. Lila had somehow fallen asleep against me in the commotion.

'One sweet goodbye,' Edward said, but rather than giving Edward the satisfaction I found Luke on a telepathic level.

 _I love you so much Luke, thank you for everything. I will get your arse out of here if it is the last thing I do._ I told him and he smiled at me.

 _I love you too, sweetheart, and I love Lila so much as well. I don't have any doubt in you. I'll see you soon; I refuse to let this be a goodbye. I'll see you soon._ He said with a small smirk and I nodded.

'Or don't, whatever,' Edward sighed before one of the guards put the hessian sack over my head, tightening it enough so it was pitch black but enough so I could breathe. I kept both hands over Lila, making sure no one would touch her. 'See you when I've sorted out these two, Luke, then we can get down to business,' Edward said, pushing me into a walk.

 _Stay strong, beautiful._ Luke telepathically whispered to me as I was frogmarched out the room.

 _You too, I'll see you in a bit._

But we both knew it was a fifty-fifty chance if we would ever see each other again. I was led down what felt like miles and miles of hallways before I was pushed into a dark room. The hessian sack was removed and I immediately checked on Lila, who still seemed alright. There was a radio playing in the background that I tried to focus on as Edward appeared in front of me.

'I will just remove your memories of being here, this will hurt all as much as it sounds,' He said simply sitting in front of me.

There was a bit of silence as Edward got into my mind and the radio moved onto the next song and I knew if there was a time to focus, it would be now.

 _I used to rule the world,_

 _Seas would rise when I gave the word._

I smiled slightly as I heard Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" play on the radio, a song I hadn't heard in years but seemed very fitting.

 _Now in the mornings, I sleep alone_

 _Sweep the streets I used to own._

I remembered the day of our engagement extremely clearly; why wouldn't I? It was one of the best days of my life. I remember Luke taking us down to that small pond in the middle of the gardens. I had never thought to adventure in the Gardens before then and I had no idea why. I always used to find walks in my local parks and woods calming. The place was absolutely beautiful; luscious green grass under foot that had been well maintained fed and meticulously watered within the summer months and I doubt anyone apart from Luke and perhaps Caroline would come down there. The trees were wild but perfectly tamed no dead leaves in sight. There were… I counted in my head… seven trees to the far side of the pond, bending around to the right. There was another tree, a giant Oak, on this side of the pond.

I felt a slight pain in my head and I knew Edward was in.

 _I used to roll the dice,_

 _Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes,_

 _Listen as the crowd would sing,_

 _"Now the old King is dead, Long live the King",_

 _One minute I held the key,_

 _Next, the walls were closed on me,_

 _And I discovered that my castles stand_

 _Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand._

Under those trees were perfectly maintained flowerbeds which held all kinds of flowers in there. A giant hydrangea bush was planted, the leaves a light blue to reflect the alkali soil it was planted in. Other flowers of beautiful shades were arranged in a perfect order, leading to a very small park bench at the bottom of the pond. Luke walked me down there, a shade nervously before he pulled me to a stop. I remember frowning, looking up at him wondering if he was okay. I remember thinking perhaps after everything that had happened to us in the hospital he didn't want a child after all.

The pain was getting a bit worse and I knew Edward was thriving off removing my memories like some kind of parasite.

 _I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing,_

 _Roman cavalry choirs are singing,_

 _Be my mirror, my sword, my shield,_

 _My missionaries in a foreign field,_

 _For some reason, I can't explain,_

 _Once you go there was never, never an honest word,_

 _That was when I ruled the world._

There was now a drilling in my head and I knew I had to focus, putting the lyrics of the song playing in the background to my memories, enforcing them down.

Luke told me he would never leave Lila and myself. He then told me how much he suffered from mental illness before I came, the torment of PTSD from his traumatic brief trip overseas within the army. I could not imagine the pain he went through. I could see it mirrored in his eyes as he told me. I remember standing there thinking why is he telling me this? And why now? He had never mentioned it before, so why was he mentioning it now? I hadn't even known. Did that make me a bad girlfriend? Luke asked me to never mention his time abroad or the injuries he gained to him and I respected that so I never did. It was in the exact same fashion I asked him not to mention my parent's car crash either.

 _It was a wicked and wild wind,_

 _Blew down the doors to let me in,_

 _Shattered windows and the sound of drums,_

 _People couldn't believe what I'd become._

 _Revolutionaries wait_

 _For my head on a silver plate_

 _Just a puppet on a lonely string_

 _Oh, who would ever want to be King?_

It had felt like my head was being severed to be placed on a silver plate, but I knew to keep Luke safe I had to keep going.

He told me how much he loved me, and how much I meant to him. We had been through a Hell of a lot together, more than the vast majority of coupled ever go through ever. Which couples do you know who had one member kidnapped? Not many. We had been through Hell and back, with parasites in our brains programmed to destroy each other, family members involved in intelligence feedback information about us. Luke and I were not only pitted against the media but at times the entire World but we powered on through, we fought back and we won.

And we were not going to let this man ruin us either.

We were not going to fall at the last hurdle.

 _I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing,_

 _Roman cavalry choirs are singing,_

 _Be my mirror, my sword, my shield,_

 _My missionaries in a foreign field,_

 _For some reason, I can't explain,_

 _I know Saint Peter will call my name,_

 _Never ruined this world,_

 _But that was when I ruled this world._

I remember how nervous he was when he kissed me before he pulled out the ring box from his pockets. I had no idea what it was until he got down on one knee. And then it hit me. But I was massively in shock. It never clicked he was asking me to marry him; I just wondered why he was down there. And then I heard those words come out of his mouth and I was so shocked. Luke wanted to _marry_ me? Really? I never thought I was good girlfriend material, let alone wife material. I just stared at me. He made a small quip and people replying and then it hit me. Holy crap – he was asking me to marry him! Of course, I agreed. He was everything for me. He was going to be my husband.

That grin. God, I could remember it from miles away. It would solve the World's crisis that grins. He was so happy. The fireworks behind that kiss, the way he held me like I was falling apart and he was the only thing keeping me together. It hit me that holy shit – he asked me to marry him! – and he laughed gently but he had that look in his eyes. The one I knew very well now. The look I see him give Lila.

The look of pure and undiminishing love.

 _I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing,_

 _Roman cavalry choirs are singing,_

 _Be my mirror, my sword, my shield,_

I knew I had to return that love. I love Luke, don't get me wrong, but he had done so much for me in comparison to what I had done for him and if I only had one fight left in me, one fight I had to win, this would be it. Luke was my last mission. It was time for me to fight. The years of pain and the resilience that came from it were now being thrown into play. The media always questioned me and my role with Luke. Was I with him for the money? The fame? Or because I actually loved him?

The answer to all around us was crystal clear; I love him. But I knew that it had all come down to this one final fight. I had to prove to the World I love Luke. This was my last fight.

 _My missionaries in a foreign field,_

 _For some reason, I can't explain,_

 _I know Saint Peter won't call my name,_

 _Never rule this world,_

 _But that was when I ruled this world._

Everything went dark as the song faded to an end.


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

I had no idea who I was, and that was what threw me. I could tell I was lying down, simply from the weightlessness of my body but that was it. I couldn't place where I was, what I was doing, or how I got there. Not to mention, I was freezing too. Probably not freezing. Just… cold. There were fuzzy noises, almost like I was underwater but was still able to breathe freely. My lungs burnt but were completely fine at the same time. I felt mechanical but also free.

But who was I? It seemed very trivial. You never really have to explain who you are until you are somewhere completely new. I remembered the first day of my first module in my degree. The room was in one of the older buildings at Cambridge, tucked away in a fancy fancy room with three rows of desks. Of course, as I started in the second year, everyone already knew each other and I had no idea who anyone was. I had arrived early, sitting in the far corner with my Rymans pad of paper in front of me and a black pen, doodling within the margin after writing the date in the top hand corner and the title of the model; Introduction to Social Psychology. Slowly, the room filled up with the 43 students that were scheduled for this module. They came in groups of twos or threes, occupying the other seats. I kept my head down, shy, feeling worthless after the last few months' events. I was getting over the grief of my parent's deaths but all it took was something simple to get me upset again. Something so minuscule – like ink colour. I changed from using blue ink to black ink, knowing my parents had always penned their letters and bills and shopping lists in blue.

The lecture was about to start in four minutes when two girls came to join me on the back row. I didn't look up until the one next to me started to speak.

'I don't think I've seen you around before,' She said and I looked up at her. She was a larger woman, beautiful dark skin, frizzy black hair with dyed blonde highlights but you could just tell she was the motherly person of all social groups. Caring almost dripped from her.

'I'm new,' I whispered, my voice failing me. It was the first time I had spoken out loud in nearly three days. I stayed in my dorm room in the university halls until that point, locked away, happy to remain to myself. I hadn't eaten so I didn't bother going out into the social areas in the halls. I just remained happily tucked away. Sure, I had messaged peopled and Jack was checking up on me as well as my cousins, Victor was constantly harassing me to make sure I was alright, but I hadn't spoken to anyone. I looked up at the women – who must be around my age – and she smiled. She wasn't going to point out my nerves.

'Oh, did you transfer then?' She asked. The girl on the other side of her, small, bum-length brown mousey hair and round brown eyes, leant forward to hear the conversation. She had a ceramic travel mug in her hand and took a sip.

'No, I've just started.' I mumbled again.

'In the second year?' She asked me and I hesitated before nodding. 'Oh, cool. I'm Mycelia, and this is Sara – pronounced Sara, and not Sarah.' She introduced both of them.

'Yeah, not Sarah. Sarah is spelt with an H. It's just _Sara.'_ The brown hair girl emphasised. 'Happens so often,' She rolled her eyes and I smiled shyly.

'I'm Grace,' I mumbled.

'Religious background or just…' Sara asked intrigued.

'Er, no, not that I'm aware of,' I said before taking a juddering breath. Not that I would be able to ask my parents why they called me Grace. I closed my eyes for a second, trying to blink away the tears before I looked down at the paper. What was I doing here? I wasn't ready for this. I was a disappointment, upsetting myself over nothing. I thought I would be making everyone proud, including my parents, but I was just embarrassing myself by crying in front of people trying to be nice to me. Mycelia elbowed Sara.

'I've always loved the name Grace, though, very simple. Bet you don't have to spell your name out on the phone either,' Mycelia added quickly. I thought then she was a person very sensitive to emotions. Turned out, she was a Savant who could read the past. She mentioned to me that it was when I got sad about my name she found out about the car crash and decided then she had to mother me – not so much by force but because she knew we would be really good friends, but she wanted to help me. She always wanted to be a child therapist and she had nature and personality for it. 'You can imagine how interesting it is when I go to Starbucks,' She joked and I smiled gently again.

The lecturer came stumbling in with a thick black backpack and some papers in his arms, which he gave out. He then did a "Who am I" workshop which linked in nicely with the topic of social psychology, and made us list 20 traits based on what we are, each other starting with "I am…". Seemed good at the time until I got down to about number fifteen when I found myself writing without even thinking about and saw what I had written;

"I am worthless,"

"I am an orphan,"

"I am alone."

I took another juddering breath with my swimming in tears, looking out the window to calm myself down. I turned back a minute or so later and there were an additional two statements at the bottom in bright pink ink. I frowned – I only have black pens. I leant forward to read what someone else had put on paper.

"I am an incredible person, a fighter, someone who won't give up and someone who is not alone. I now have friends who I can trust and talk too whenever I need and I will be okay."

"I am making my family proud,"

I smiled, the reassurance on paper of a total stranger making me feel something – worth. I hadn't felt that since the day of my last A-level exam – the day of the crash. I looked up at Mycelia who was sitting next to me, leaning back in her chair confidently, and she had a small smile on her face and just gently nodded at me before finding my hand. That day, I knew I had found two friends for life, who would come to know me inside out and even know me better than myself, but that was also the last time I struggled to identify who I was. Until now.

I laid, sat, stood up – I had no idea where I was, and the lightness I had previously felt had gone too – and tried to think about who I am. I could remember the past but I didn't know who I was. I couldn't easily identify myself. I tried to think of anything, anything at all, but my mind felt blank. I was disorientated in the dark.

'Anything?' I heard someone ask and the gentle thud of a door closing. Who the hell was that? Who was talking to me? Or was it about me? Who was it? The voice sounded so familiar like it was a part of me – but then why could I not recognise it?

'Not yet, they said she'll be up soon though,' Another man said and I recognise that voice – why is the future King of England talking about me? I had always seen him on the news at children's hospitals and animal adoption centres – that was how I knew his voice.

There was a silence for a while and I strained my ears to hear anything – there was some machinery in the background, a hissing noise, but apart from that it was an uncomfortable silence.

'How is Lila doing?' My heart completely fluttered then but I had no idea why. Who was Lila? It feels like I should know. My heart was now racing and I felt panicky but it was my God damn brain that had no idea what to do.

'She's okay, she's still being kept in the paediatrics ward for observation but she seems completely fine, Grace must have taken the full force of whatever happened to them.' The Prince said beside me.

'Makes sense,' The other person said.

It hit me – the other person was my brother. Why wasn't I able to identify my own _brother_? He was always in my life. We never went through a stage of hating each other; we were constantly together and always playing and talking. Even when he moved in with his boyfriend at the time and I moved into university dorms, we still spoke constantly and had phone calls every night. We were constantly talking. We used to be referred to as the twins, even though he was older because we would never leave each other's side and looked similar; blonde hair, dull blue-green eyes, freckles and dimples.

It hit me again – oh my god.

Lila was my daughter. Why the hell we both in a hospital? Where the hell was my fiancé? Where was Luke – and why his brother was sitting beside me, alongside Jack? Why I couldn't remember anything was beyond me but now I could, so we just had to skip on past that.

I opened my eyes, ignoring the throbbing in my head and I just stared at Theo who was beside me. There was something down my throat and my mouth was so very dry. It felt like I was being suffocated. I couldn't breathe – something was stopping me and I went to knock whatever it was but I was so weak I couldn't overly move my arms Theo must have seen the movement and immediately leant forward to hold my hand.

'It's okay, Grace, don't fight it,' Theo said quickly, holding my hand down – not that it required much force.

'Grace, Jesus,' Jack said, coming over behind Theo. 'How are you feeling – don't reply.' He added quickly as I tried to reply and I just frowned at him. Don't ask stupid questions that I can't reply too then, idiot. He quickly pressed the buzzer by my bed. Both of the boys were silent by my bed. I knew they were holding back an onslaught of questions that I couldn't answer, and they knew I wanted answers too but I couldn't ask them. So we remained in silence. About fifteen seconds later, a few nurses came in. They quickly spoke to the boys before one came over to me.

'Hiya, Grace, I'm Cathy and I'm the nurse in charge of you. Now you're awake, you don't need this endotracheal tube so we will take it out for you. This is not a pleasant experience, you will end up with a very sore throat so try not to speak too much, or talk above a whisper, and you will feel like you will vomit but you won't. It's not painful, it's more… uncomfortable.' She told me as some nurses gathered around, moving my bed to sit up even though it absolutely killed my ribs. A nurse put a metal dish on my lap and another one checked some blood pressure and other things. 'Okay, Grace, take a deep breath in and hold it,'

I did what she said and it felt awful. I knew what was coming as she took the end of the tube in her hand.

'Now, breathe out slowly. There's a dish in front of you if you feel like you want to be sick,' she explained as I breathed out slowly. Skillfully, she pulled the endotracheal tube out from my airways and I started to cough and gag but before I knew it, the tube was out.

'There we go, just remember to breathe now please,' She joked and I smiled gently.

'Thank you,' I whispered before wincing at my painfully sore throat and how dry my mouth was. Jack handed me a cup of water but held it in place so I could drink the entire thing down the straw.

'We'll leave you alone now, if you need us, buzz us, okay?' She told Jack and he nodded. And it was the first time I noticed that Jack was in his hospital scrubs and I frowned.

'Lila? Luke?' I asked and Theo looked over to Jack to reply.

'Lila's in the paediatric ward, me and Markie are taking it in turns to stay with her. They've allowed us to care for her whilst she's there because she simply wasn't settling down but she'll be fine,' Jack said before looking to Theo. Clearly, his half of the question was down.

'Luke's still missing, Grace,' Theo said quietly and I frowned. Missing?

'Missing?' I repeated. 'What do you mean – missing?' How can he be missing?

'What do you remember, Grace?' Theo asked me. 'What is the last thing you remember properly?'

I tried to think, and then I used my gift. I gulped slightly.

'There was an attack in London. We were on Oxford street, shopping, we had come out of the Disney store and headed east. There was some kind of explosion and we went to help people – well, Luke did, I did what he was doing. There was a man in a van and we both collapsed. When we woke up, we were in this dark room. The floor was really damp. I woke Luke up and we thought we were fine and we heard Lila crying in the other room and she was starving… but after that, I have no idea.' I said sadly. 'How did I get here? Why am I in a hospital? What happened to Lila – and why is Luke not with us?'

Theo and Jack took it in turns to explain what had happened to me – what I had said was true, I had gone missing alongside Luke in the Oxford Street attacks. Lila had been taken from Buckingham Palace where she slept; a few feet away from Theo. Someone had thrown some sort of sedative gas into the room, knocking Theo and Lila unconscious. They had taken Lila, protecting her from the effects of the gas, but left Theo in the room causing damage. It would explain the breathing tube around his face and into his nostrils.

They never mentioned how many days I was missing. I was mildly thankful – if I knew I would get so worked up about Luke.

They explained two days ago I was found unconscious and beaten in an old granite quarry in Scotland. Lila was beside me, crying, but conscious. It was just me who was a mess. We were found when morning workers clocked into the quarry at six, after leaving the place at ten the previous evening. It was thought we were dumped there just after ten and left us alone for the chilly night. Of course, they recognised us and called the police and the ambulance, who immediately took us to a hospital in Dundee, alerting Theo and Caroline immediately who got out the message to my family. Thankfully, it looked like I was just beaten badly before being dumped and didn't require surgery, but I was barely breathing when they found me so had to be intubated. I had several broken ribs, concussion, cuts and bruises everywhere, and a fractured wrist. Lila, thankfully, apart from being hungry and lonely, was completely fine. It appeared to everyone that I had taken the beating and protected Lila with my life. But an extensive search of the quarry was conducted and there were no signs of Luke.

'Why can't I remember where I was? I could have saved Luke…' I mumbled. 'Don't worry Grace, we'll find him. We're not giving up on him,' Jack said gently. 'You might remember eventually, something will trigger it. You are still really badly concussed,'

'But…' I went to protest.

'Grace, no one is blaming you for anything either,' Theo added almost accessing my thoughts to know that was my next port of call. He sat there for a second before remembering something. I watched him lean forward onto the cabinet beside my bed, finding a small white box. He handed it to me. 'They had to take this off you when you were tubed,' He said.

He handed it to me but I couldn't hold it. He realised his mistake quickly and darted forward to catch the box. Theo smiled at me, almost shyly, before he opened the box.

I frowned as I saw my engagement ring on a necklace. I checked my hand and sure enough, there was no ring. I looked back at the ring and my mouth dropped open.

'Why is it on a necklace?' I mumbled.

'You were wearing the ring on a necklace when they found you, Grace.' Jack added. I looked back at the engagement on the chain and I felt something in the bottom of my stomach. Guilt? I feel like I should remember. I feel like… I need to remember. It was my duty.

 _Now in the morning I sleep alone,_

 _Sweep the streets I used to own._

I looked away from the ring as my heart felt heavy and I swallowed. My hands started to shake – my head felt like it was splitting. But for some reason, Coldplay's lyrics filled my head. I hadn't heard the song in years, not since it came out, but it was there. Playing away in my mind. Like a dodgy record, it skipped forward a few minutes, trying to jog my memory… but what?

 _It was a wicked and wild wind,_

 _Blew down the doors to let me in._

I took a deep breath and I knew Theo and Jack were talking to me as my face felt damp – oh, I must be crying then. What was happening? Despite the pain, the absolutely agonising pain that I felt everywhere, I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my head on my knees crying to myself. Someone put their hand on my back but it didn't matter. It wasn't Luke. Luke was the only person who would help me now. Instead, I just tried to tune out the world and listen to the song that I had stuck in my head.

 _Shattered windows and the sound of drums,_

 _People couldn't believe what I'd become,_

 _Revolutionaries wait,_

 _For my head on a silver plate,_

 _Just a puppet on a lonely string,_

 _Oh, who would ever want to be King?_

I pressed my eyes shut as I saw someone. It was faded and fuzzy like I was viewing an old dated photo under the water in a pool without swimming goggles. It was Edward. Luke and Theo's father, Caroline's ex-husband. The old King of the United Kingdom. It wasn't the same man I remembered before. He sat at the end of a glass table, old, thin. Dying almost. He was in grey. It blended with his meek skin.

I frowned, focusing on that memory despite the faded, burnt and blurry edged it had. I remembered he sat Luke down. I could see Luke too – he was there, opposite the table, holding Lila. He was staring directly at her. He told us things, things we couldn't fathom. But… he told us he murdered my parents. He used Theo and Luke as weapons to be turned against the Savant Net. He was admitting to kidnapping me the first time around. He wanted me dead.

 _I used to roll the dice,_

 _Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes,_

 _Listened as the crowds would sing,_

 _Now the old King is dead, Long live the King._

We stayed isolated, afraid, in a luxurious hotel-like room, for days on end. We took it in turns to sleep on the double bed and look after Lila who stayed with us. I remembered, very specifically, waking up in the early hours of the morning to odd sounds outside the room to see Luke, lying beside me, his arm under my head and his other hand on the curve of my waist. His eyes were shining a dark blue as he looked at me – for how long for I cannot remember – with a small smile on his face. We felt at home together, with our baby daughter, even though we were there against our will. We had started to appreciate how much we relied on each other and realised quite soon on that we were one now. We were a team.

That team was broken now, Luke was gone and I was in the hospital.

 _One minute I held the Key,_

 _Next, the walls were closed on me_

 _And I discovered that my castles stand_

 _Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand._

Edward came in. Somehow, Luke persuaded him to let me go. I was heartbroken. I was in tears, wondering why Luke would want me to go when we decided we were in this together. Somehow he convinced Edward with that tone Theo and him could speak in, the tone that could persuade the entire nation. I broke down as Edward said he could have his final goodbyes. Luke told me very quick, very soft and calmly but urgently, that the security services were not acting because he was of such a high status that they could not risk such a mission that could harm him without certainty. He told me to focus on something – focus on the ring – and it will help Edward not to break me. He told me he loved me and he'll see me soon. I was taken into a room, away from my fiancé, and mind wiped.

All whilst Coldplay was playing. 

_For some reason I can't explain,_

 _I know St Peter won't call my name,_

 _Never an honest word,_

 _But that was when I ruled the world._

I sat there in silence trying to work out exactly what I had seen. It didn't rock me to my core like it once did but it was a big enough shock still. The man who my fiancé once called his Father had created an living Hell for him, his brother and his own mother. He had murdered my parents for trying to bring his dirty work to light, and when I had started to work on the case, he tried to kill me too. And then planned to use my remains to break Luke, and to turn him into the monster I would have been investigating.

It hurt, but I lifted my head up and saw Jack was sitting beside me, pulling me into his side to hug me. Theo had moved to sit on the bed, his arm around me as well. It was mainly Theo who noticed when I lifted my head up.

'Luke is being held in the exact same place as where I was when I was kidnapped. That's why the ring was on the necklace. He took it off me and moved it to the necklace so, when my memories were removed I would see the ring and hopefully it would bring it all back,' I whispered to Theo.

'You know for certain?' He mumbled. 'But… Callus…'

'It's not Callus behind it, Theo,' I whispered back and Jack looked at me as I started to cry

'Then who is,' Theo asked, all serious, never expecting the truth.

'Edward,' I whispered. Almost immediately after I said it Theo went into shock. You could see it on his face. His hair, darker than Luke's and more tame, always trimmed and in place – smart and formal, like anyone would expect of the Crown prince, compared to Luke's fluffy appearance, almost seemed to sink with the news as well. His eyes went dark, shielded and shadowed as he took in what I said.

'…what did you say?' He whispered to me with a seriousness I hadn't heard from him before. I flinched back, trying to get slightly away from him. It hurt my ribs – badly – and Jack immediately put his arm out to protect me even though I had no reason to flinch.

'I'm so sorry, Theo,' I mumbled through my tears.

'Did you say… Edward? Like… my father Edward?' He said and I nodded. And with that, he pushed back from his chair and stormed out the room, slamming the door on the way out.


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47**

I had managed to force myself to sit up shortly after Theo had stormed out the room, Jack deciding to get Caroline to find him rather than himself. The ribs that had broken, three of the bottom on the left hand side, was killing me. It was a dull ache but it was more constricting my breathing. I had to take incredibly small, shallow breaths. My wrist was in a nude-coloured splint, and a blanket was wrapped around my shoulders.

Briefly, I explained to Caroline what I told Theo and even she seemed shell shocked. A small part of her almost didn't believe me – I saw it in her eyes – but she still took my word and ran out to find Theo. A few minutes later, police and military intelligence came in to take my statement and I explained all I could remember including Edward. I was then left to stew in my own emotions – but thankfully Markie had brought down Lila from paediatrics into my room and I managed to hold her.

Lila looked completely fine despite her ordeal. She has a small bruise on her leg and when she was found, she was hungry and cold but since then Lila's been fine. I held her tight as she curled up asleep in my arms. She had grown so much since she was born. I was still completely caught up with Lila. She was my daughter. It still really hurt my mind. Sure, I was extremely young to have a child but Luke and I – we were managing fine. We were tired, sure, but we would not have changed it for the world. Whilst some of the media pointed out our age, others supported us and pointed out that Caroline's mother had given birth to her at 21, and Caroline also had Theo quite young too – and both Caroline and Theo had turned out absolutely fine.

Jack sat next to me in the hospital bed, his arm around me as I held Lila but we sat in silence. I didn't want to ask him anything about what had happened in the time I was missing, and was too scared to ask about the plans to get Luke (if there was plans) and Jack didn't want to ask me anything that might cause me to have a mental breakdown. So we just sat in silence.

The silence lasted for a good four hours – Lila remained asleep for a solid amount of time, waking up for a feed and I let Jack change her as I was unable at the moment to get out of bed, but she had settled down soon after and was in my arms just watching myself and Jack when the door opened. I immediately looked up to see Caroline coming through the door. Her eyes were red and puffy and I knew she had been crying. I frowned at her. Did she know something about Luke and was coming to tell me?

'Nothing as of yet,' she said quietly, answering my silent question and I looked back down at Lila. Caroline came straight over and hugged me though and I let out a sob into her shoulder. I didn't even realise I was crying. 'We'll find him, Grace, I promise you now we will find him and he will be safe,'

'I don't know if he will be safe,' I sobbed and Caroline tutted.

'Nonsense, trust me. _I know_ he'll be found safe,' Caroline said and I frowned before remembering. She can see the future. She saw Luke perfectly fine as he walks across the stage when he graduates from university in less than two months' time. I nodded. 'They're working on an operation to get him out now,'

Neither of us spoke about the obvious; her own ex-Husband being the one to kidnap his own son.

'I want to go,' I said.

'Not a chance, Grace,' Jack immediately butted in.

'I don't want you going anywhere near that place again Grace. Not now we know the vendetta he has against you,' Caroline said. He – the man she had been married too for nearly thirty years. She looked away from me. 'I'm sorry for the pain he has inflicted on your family,'

'It's not your fault, don't apologise,' I whispered back but I felt guilty. I couldn't bring myself to tell Jack what Edward had told me – that it was him that murdered our parents and it wasn't a freak car accident. How could I even begin to fathom those words? I had told the police and whoever came to interview me but that interview was done in a room with just me. Caroline had got the memo, I knew she would read my statement the second she could in order to see if what I told Theo was true.

'What he has done to not only you Grace, but you entire family – your parent's murder, kidnapping you twice…'

'Woah – what you do mean? Parent's _murder?_ ' Jack immediately asked. I closed my eyes, holding Lila a bit tighter. I heard Caroline sigh.

'Jack,' Caroline whispered to him.

'They… they weren't murdered. It was a car crash.' Jack said, almost like he was stating the facts.

'Jack,' I said in tears. 'That, that isn't true. Mum and Dad had evidence of what Edward was doing – his little posse of bad – Dad was due to file the paperwork the next day. It would shut down whatever Edward was doing, so he arranged for someone too…' I couldn't even finish my sentence, I was crying too much. Jack just looked at me in horror.

'What?' He whispered, also starting to cry. 'They… they were…. Murdered?' I nodded. The silence was heavy as I shifted Lila's weight into one arm to wipe away my tears. Caroline looked between the both of us, wondering what Jack's reaction will be or rather why I didn't tell him the second I woke up. 'Grace, that's… that is not funny. Why would you say that?'

'Jack,' I said, my voice breaking.

'I know what happened!' he yelled at me.

'I thought I did too,' I said strained.

'Then stop lying! That isn't funny, that's…. that's not what happened.' Jack told me.

I heard someone cleared their throat and looked up. Andrew Toeskin was standing by the doorway and from the grim look on his face, he had overheard the conversation. He was in another dry cleaned suit, the lines crisp on his trousers sitting over legs and lining up with the cut of his blazer he wore.

'I should have told you that when you first started,' Toeskin said to me and I frowned. What the hell did he mean?

'What?'

'We've never closed the investigation into your parent's death. We never believed it was just a car crash and we had always thought that the crash wasn't an accident. We have some evidence to suggest it wasn't just a freak accident.' Toeskin explained to me, coming in and sitting on the end of my bed. 'We kept a tracker in all members of our staff who held a senior position. We know your parents never sped. The speed they were doing on that night stuck out massively. And we've done projection programming on the projectile and the damage to the car did not match up at all to the speed they had been doing.'

Jack and I both sat there, mouths open as we tried to take in what Toeskin had told us. They investigated our parent's deaths, and they couldn't close it as they believed it wasn't an accident. And now, with what Edward had told me it all added up. I closed my eyes as I started to cry. It almost added another dimension to Edward's words.

'I'm sorry, both of you.' Toeskin said.

I heard the door slam and opened my eyes to see Jack was missing from the room, and Toeskin had been pushed out the way. Caroline looked at me, asking me what I wanted her to do. I nodded, almost telling her to go and find Jack and very quickly, she got up and jogged out the room after my older brother. I was left in a room with a man I was close too, but not close enough he would tell me about the investigation into my own parent's death.

'Leave.' I told him.

'Grace, I –'

'Leave!' I shouted at him, making Lila cry. He bowed his head before storming out, slamming the door as Lila continued to shout and scream in my arms. I sat there trying to calm her down, cooing her but it still took a good fifteen minutes for Lila to eventually cry herself out. I was talking to her telepathically, wondering if she could hear me or not. I knew she missed Luke, her Daddy. It had been crystal clear since she was born she preferred Luke. I didn't overly mind, though, she settled down so much more quickly with him compared to me. Lila stayed awake, staring up at me, so I didn't see who walked in the door.

'Well, you've been through some shit, haven't you?' Mycelia said and I simply nodded, staring at Lila. 'They'll find Luke, Grace,'

'How do you know?' I whispered as my voice broke.

'I was talking to Caroline whilst we waited for you to come around, Grace, the premonitions have always happened. You will be fine, Lila will also be fine and Luke will be found, and he too will also be absolutely fine too.' Mycelia came and sat on the chair that Jack sat on moments previously. 'Do you want me to take Lila?' She whispered as I started sobbing. I nodded and Mycelia came immediately to my side, gently taking Lila out of my arms as I curled up as much as the pain allowed me to as I continued to cry.

'Grace, sweetheart, honestly, they are preparing the mission to go and get him now. They expect it will be another day or so,' Mycelia whispered.

'I want to go,' I whispered.

'Yeah, like that'll be allowed,' She snorted.

'Mycelia, I want to go.'

'Go back to the man who wants you dead? Who kidnapped you, your fiancé and your baby daughter? Grace, even if you wanted to go and you weren't hospitalised, they would never allow you to go.'

'But…'

'Look, I'm just a therapist but even I know that you won't be allowed. You'll be in a safe place, ready to see Luke when he comes home,' Mycelia whispered. 'You'll be with Lila, somewhere safe, looking after her. It would be what Luke wanted you to do.'

'… would it?' I asked.

'Luke would not want you in any more danger. He got you out safe, as well as Lila, he will go batshit if you walk straight back into the place he worked to get you out off. Make sense?' Mycelia said and I nodded.

'But how will I just sit around just… waiting for him to come back home safe?'

'Stay with me until then, we'll take Lila, we'll watch some films and have snacks and they shouldn't be more than four hours, really.' Mycelia whispered.

'I love Luke so much,' I whispered to myself.

'I would hope so too,' Mycelia told me. 'You have a gorgeous baby with him, and you're gunna marry him too. I would be concerned if you didn't love him, and he loves you too. He wouldn't have put all at risk to get you out of that Hell if he didn't love you either,' Mycelia whispered. 'And I know he dotes on you, he doesn't stop talking about you either. So it's completely normal you feel this shit.'

'What if he's hurt?'

'He won't be, he's kickass and he's also paramedic so he'll be able to treat himself if he did get mildly injured,' I nodded.

'When can I go home then?' I mumbled. 'When's the military operation being set in for,' I asked, knowing it was futile to argue with her and anyone else about wanting to go on the mission to save Luke, so I would just have to accept it.

/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\

It was an agonising stay overnight in hospital, Theo only coming back in briefly to apologise to me before heading back to Buckingham Palace. He was clearly unable to process his own emotions upon learning his father was a murderer who kidnapped his brother and niece. Not that I could blame him. Jack didn't come back into the room, though, and Caroline had to come in to explain to me that Markie had taken him home as he had broken down and had yet to calm himself down enough to face me again.

Mycelia and Caroline stayed with me and Lila all night, almost taking it in shifts to babysit me. Not that I was going anyway. I could barely stand I was in so much pain and as I was refusing to take any medicine as I would just throw up every time I did. However, I was given the discharge note for the morning. The plan was for us to leave the hospital half an hour earlier than the men would leave to head down to Cornwall in order to find Luke. It would create a diversion. We don't believe I was being watched anymore but if I was, it would at least distract them for a while. Myself, as well as Lila, would head back with Mycelia to her small house outside of London for a few hours until Luke is taken back into the hospital, safely, then we would go straight back and I would be able to see him.

I was convinced that it couldn't be that straight forward but I would just have to roll with it, as everyone else seemed pretty positive it would be that straight forward.

It got to midday when Mycelia finally came with her car and she must have also purchased a car seat for Lila too as it was in the back ready. I had been discharged with an entire green bag full of medicines for the pain and antibiotics for the cuts I had, and was wheeled out of hospital but a porter in a chair as it would have taken me too long to walk. I shimmied myself into Mycelia's car.

'I'll see you tonight, Grace,' Caroline said through the window, leaning forward to kiss my cheek.

'Thanks,' I whispered to her shyly and she smiled.

'I'll keep you updated,' She said, before security ushered her back into the hotel.

'She is just so sweet,' Mycelia said setting off on the two hour journey to head home. We got to the hospital gate and I was shocked there was no media; no dodgy men in black coats with a massive camera hidden away, no security guards pushing back these people. No one. And then I realised no one knew I was back. I had watched the news; I was still a missing person, alongside Lila and Luke. Mycelia noticed my silence and continued to speak to me. 'I thought them other in law was meant to be a bitch – she's a little gem,'

'She really is something brilliant,' I said, fiddling with my top.

'Lila is so lucky to have her as her grandmother, really. She is totally the type of grandmother who will buy her loads of sweets when you and Luke tell her not too, and encourage her to find a boyfriend or girlfriend every single time they see each other,' Mycelia said before nodding to herself. 'I can totally see that,'

'I wouldn't be surprised, she completely dotes over Lila,' I said with a smile, rolling down the window slightly and putting my hand on the seal.

'Who doesn't?' Mycelia said, checking her mirror. 'She sleeps nearly as much as you did in university. Notice how I said nearly? Not quite, but very close. However, Lila is just sleeping because she is still a baby who sleeps for eighteen hours a day and you just napped. Constantly.' Mycelia joked trying to keep my mind of what would be happening.

'At least that's one thing she takes after me, then,' I said and she tutted.

'And she looks the splitting imagine of you as well Grace,'

'Okay, but you can see Luke in her as well, right?' I asked and she nodded.

'Obviously.' And the car went silent again as I struggled not to think about Luke, and what he might be doing at this moment in time. Would he just be sitting there waiting for us to come and get him? Would he be alive? What if he was – no. I couldn't. I wouldn't allow it. He had to be safe. For us. He would have to be safe to come back and he would continue to be the perfect father for Lila.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Luke's POV**

I sat on the edge of the bed, in the suit that has been brought for me, in utter disgust. It had been two days since Grace has left this exact same bedroom with Lila. And since then, the daily routine has just continued. Meals were delivered at their normal times, the TV signal remained uninterrupted and I was left to my own devices. Quite often, I would spend the hours wondering if my fiancé was doing okay – and whether was actually got into a hospital safely and was still alive. And whether my daughter was doing okay too and was still with Grace. The television, which has been on constant loop of the rolling news channels, still reported Grace and Lila as missing people alongside me, all of them saying we had all been last scene last week before the terrorist attacks in Oxford street. However, I could understand them not publicising Grace and Lila's return, as it would put so much more pressure on them and any operation to get me out of this place.

I just hoped Grace would remember what had happened. I knew they would have forced her to forget this place – how long we had been here, who had kept us captive, what we had been doing. But I knew she had the strength in her to remember, I knew she could do it if she fought against it. I also knew she wouldn't go down without a fight, not when myself and Lila were in danger. I just really, really hoped that she had done what I also gathered she would do, and now the operation to get me out was in full swing and being worked on, but also that my family knew my own Father had done all of this to us.

Theo would not react well. Growing up, he was very much a father-boy. He would always be with Edward, used to ask him if he could do stuff and Edward would, rather promptly, agree. I guess that was all part of his plan. Even recently, despite knowing his negligence against our own mother and myself when Grace was kidnapped the first time around, he would almost find ways to reason around it. So how would he react when he had concrete proof that Edward was behind these kidnappings? And find out what our father was capable of?

How would Mum react? She would be completely devastated but would have to keep it together to keep Theo calm and hopefully, be there for Grace. But she would be so, so shit after she finds out. The man she had loved for years, had kids with, grew old with and let him rule her own country with turned out to be a two-faced snake with plans to ruin everything she had done. That would be enough to destroy anyone.

I closed my eyes as I remembered Grace would have to tell her own brother their parents were murdered by Edward too. She was a mess when finding that out – and I couldn't blame her. That is a hell of a thing to find out and it still made me guilty as anything. My Dad has ruthlessly killed her parents and was, ultimately, responsible for every single side effect Grace had felt after; how she starved herself the weeks after, buried in her own grief so she couldn't work, the depression and the anxiety she thinks I don't know about. I was constantly in her head, her mind was a part of mine now, and I knew how bad and precarious her mental state is at time so I just had to stand there and support her. But all of that was caused by the crash. Without my father acting the way he did, Grace would still have parents.

And she had to explain that to her older brother, who would act probably in the same way as Theo would; in extreme anger. They probably wouldn't be allowed around Grace and Lila in their fit of induced rage, leaving Grace alone when she probably shouldn't be alone. I should be with her. But I knew I had to stay for her to leave, and she was so much safer on the other side with Lila than they both were when they were here, with me.

I looked up as the door shuddered open, revealing Edward in a near-enough matching suit. You could tell they had been tailored to fit us; but I did wonder where he got the measurements from considering I hadn't spoken to him in a good six months now. He walked in, gesturing at me.

'My son,' He simply said and I just looked at him with no emotion.

'Is Grace and Lila safe?' I asked him.

'I held up my part of the deal,' He said.

'No, I asked if they were safe. Are they at home with Mum and Theo? Are they safe?' I repeated and he sighed.

'I really don't know why you had to settle for someone like Grace,' Edward said and I pursed my lips in anger. 'You could have had literally anyone. You had Princesses of nearly a hundred countries interested in your hand in marriage. Not Theo's – yours. Because you had so much personality oozing out of you compared to that brick that is your brother. You were no.1 most eligible bachelor in Great Britain last year. But no, you had to settle for a middle-classed orphan.'

'I ASKED IF SHE WAS SAFE,' I shouted back at him. 'And you are the sole reason she is an orphan,' I added on additionally and he sighed.

'I had to kill her parents, I didn't want too. If they weren't so nosey, then it wouldn't have happened,' Edward sighed and I got up and stood directly in front of him. I towered over him.

'You didn't have to kill them,' I growled in his face.

'We left them both in a quarry in Scotland overnight. They were both found and taken to hospital unreported but Caroline and her brother were both there when they arrived, so now you have to cooperate with me.'

'You left them overnight in a quarry?' I asked him and he shrugged.

'They were meant to have security on site overnight, but they didn't turn up that night.' He justified and I shook my head at him in anger, knowing better not to argue again. 'So, now you have to join the dark side,' I must have pulled a face because he tutted. 'It's not that bad, I am not going to put you straight onto murder duties. We'll save that for a few months down the lane. If you behave, once a month I'll give you updates on Grace and your daughter – what's her name again?'

'Lila.' I added. 'Lila Charlotte Elizabeth Evans.' I told him, gritted teeth.

'Lila – very odd, not Royal name,' he said, gesturing for me to get out the room and I did what he said; that was part of the deal I guess. 'Any particular reason why you chose Lila or was it Grace's decision,' He asked and I knew he was trying to make some form of conversation that wasn't me yelling at him. I tried to work out how long Grace had been gone; nearly two days now. So, if all had gone to plan and she remembered, the operation should be starting to come together now and it could be within the next 24 hours that I would be rescued. I'm sure, to make this easier, I could make polite small talk with him.

'I chose it. Grace wanted to name her after her Mum but couldn't face that each day, calling her daughter her mother's name, so we kind of improvised and went with Lila,' I said as he led me up a flight of stairs. He went in front of me and I had to run behind him.

'And any plans at the moment as to when you're going to get married?' He said.

'You make it sound like I'll get out of here,' I muttered angrily.

'Well, in the future we can see if Grace wants to come and join us both here, bring Lila here with her, then you can get married here. She would be a welcome addition to our team,' Edward said and I just thought there was not a chance that I would be here long enough for him to see that – and there also was no chance Grace would come back to this Hell.

'Perhaps.' I said, not trusting myself to say anything else.

'When she has a change of heart, or you do, we will accept her as our family,' Edward said to me, gesturing me through a door and I knew where we were; we were in the west block, the staircase I had run through when I had to get Grace from this Hell hold before.

But I was not going to stay here; I knew there would be an operation to get me out of here. There had to be – but what if there wasn't? I would have to break out. I was not going to stay here. I would rather die breaking out of this place than live forever within this tainted Hell.

'I have meetings today for supplies, so I will be out of the office, but there are some important men you need to meet and greet. They'll make sure you are… comfy.' Edward told me, walking to the door as he opened it.

The board room was the exact same room I had found Grace in, metal bound to her leg, a gunshot to her thigh and barely breathing curled up in the corner of the room. Now, there was no mark that she was ever here. The glass table to the left-hand side of the large room had all seats occupied apart from the one at the head of the table; however, a laptop was in that place. All the men stood and saluted as Edward walked in. I frowned.

'Gentleman, thank you for gathering here today to discuss the next move for the Campus and the potential of adding another building to double our forces. Alas, I am out of the office today in emergency talks with our suppliers. In my place, I will leave my son in my place to take notes. Gentleman, please do treat Luke like myself,' Edward said, walking me over to the chair at the top of the table. The men all chimed agreements and compliments as I sat down in the chair, not even able to smile at them. 'I will be back around half six, Luke, you'll be escorted back to your room by then and I'll meet you there,' and with a touch on my shoulder he left the room and I was left in this Hell hold alone. The men looked at me, then one of the men to the right-hand side of myself stood up and addressed the room, and got down to the agenda they had in mind for the meeting.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Grace's POV**

I woke up from my nap lying on Mycelia's arm. I could see the pattern on her shirt from where I was lying, and I knew she was sitting crossed legged on the sofa in her small two-bedroom house around two hours from Windsor. Quickly, I sat up stretching and tried to find Lila. Sure enough, my daughter was in a small travel cot at the bottom of the stairs probably also asleep.

'Morning,' Mycelia joked and I checked the clock – it had been six hours since we left hospital and I wondered how long I had been asleep. I couldn't remember walking into her house so I could only assume Mycelia carried me in. She worked a lot on upper body strength at the gym and I suppose now it paid off.

'How long have I been asleep?' I asked.

'Five and a half hours? You must have needed it. Like I said, you're napping more than your daughter now,' Mycelia joked. 'Now you're up, I have to go to the store and get some more nappies for Lila. I appear to not have any in the house,' She said and I frowned.

'Take my card,' I whispered, feeling bad and she gave me a funny look.

'No.' She simply said. 'My best friend has had a baby and I don't have any baby stuff in my house? I get that I've only come to yours to see Lila, which, by the way, once this has blown over has to change as I have woods and parks near here I can take her, but I really need to keep come baby stuff here.'

'Can I come with?' I asked, scared of being alone and Mycelia looked at me.

'Grace, the men who took you have no idea where you are, you are completely safe here. Tesco's is just up the road, I will be about ten minutes if that. I'll pick you up those bubblegum bottles you used to love from there. If you need me, just telepathically get me and I will be back,' Mycelia told me gently. 'You will be safe here.'

'You sure?' I whispered and she rolled her eyes at me.

'Child therapist,' She pointed to herself, 'Security at Buckingham Palace,' she pointed to me. 'You know you'll be safe here, I moved a few weeks ago so my address shouldn't be on file. They would have expected you to go back with Theo or Jack or to your Grandparents, not here. Honestly Grace.' Mycelia told me and I nodded as she slipped her shoes on, grabbing her car keys from the table beside her. I nodded and she smiled over at me. 'Ten minutes – and you'll get those bubblegum bottles you love,'

'Thank you for all of this,' I mumbled.

'Anything for my best friend – but seriously, I want to see the little munchkin more,' She gestured to Lila in her travel cot and I smiled as she opened the door, locking it behind her. I sat down, waiting for her to return but instead heard her car start up and pull away.

I got up, walking over to the travel cot where Lila was also asleep. I smiled down at her, amazed at how much she had grown but also how small she was. Unlike everyone who told me different, she was still small enough to fit inside the new born baby grows, and the 0-3 months clothes still fitted her with space to spare. Everyone assumed she would be much bigger and heavier than she was based on how big I was when pregnant, but it never happened (turned out, I just ate like a pig since I found out I was pregnant). Someone must have changed her when we were in the hospital as she was in a grey all in one, with small pictures of Winnie the Pooh characters all over. Lila slept with her hands above her head, mouth slightly open and head lulled to one side.

Gently, I unhooked one side of the travel cot and picked her up so her head was against me as she slept and I was supporting her full weight. She meant everything to me. You always hear parents saying that – I never believed how much someone who didn't exist a few months previous could change everything but now I could. Luke had been the first shift in that sense. I never realised how lonely I was until that night.

We rushed into things. Both of us agreed on that. But having someone there, someone who wanted me was incredible. I had gone through life – well, after my parent's death – feeling like I was lacking something. Luke filled that hole. The night after we first hooked up and I woke up and he was lying there, wanting me to curl into him. It was then I realised us getting together was no fleeting moment. When I curled back into him and he held me tight, kissing my forehead. I think it was then I knew that this could be so much more than a one-night fling.

I turned to face the corner as I held Lila. My heart ached when I started to think about Luke. I really hoped he was okay and was still alive now. I knew he was – when I tried to message him telepathically it felt like he was hidden away and not gone completely – but I was still concerned. But what he had done to get me and Lila out of that place was completely honourable. Even though it had killed me off, he was doing it to protect us both.

'You really thought you'd get away that easily?' I tensed as I heard the bitter, sour voice coming from behind me, holding Lila tight as I turned around. Edward was in the room – the door behind him was pushed open – and I stood there in shock. He knew where I was? And then it hit me.

He was aiming a gun at me. My heart stopped. I moved forward and he took the safety off the gun.

'This is between me and you, and not Lila. Let me put her down,' I whispered and he shook his head.

'None of this would have happened if it wasn't for that… that _thing._ Luke would still be mine to manipulate if it wasn't for you,' Edward sneered at me as I moved forward again.

'It was me who changed him, not Lila. She's just a baby. She has nothing to do with this, Edward,' I told him, continuing to move forward until I got to the travel cot. Edward's hand was shaking as I gently bent down to put down Lila.

'You're a monster,' He sneered at me, 'You turned my son, my own son, against me. You deserved everything that happened to you. You and your family asked for it. You don't deserve Luke, you don't deserve any of this happy life,'

'I know I don't deserve Luke,'

'Then why did he fall in love with you!' He shouted at me. I knew he was in my mind so I couldn't talk to Mycelia and I knew I would just have to keep Edward speaking until she came home. I looked at the clock – it had been fifteen minutes since I woke up from my nap so coming up to ten minutes since Mycelia left. The gun was still pointed to my chest but he was shaking.

'I don't know,' I whispered, a tear falling from my eye.

'You must! He just turned obsessed with you overnight, you – you must have a hidden gift or something.'

'Put down the gun Edward,' I whispered to him, putting my hands up in the air. His hand that held the gun was shaking and he started crying too. 'You're not well mentally, if you put down the gun, we can get you help?'

' _we?!_ You and that precious fiancé of yours? Or you and your kid?' Edward spat at me and I saw out the corner of my eye Mycelia's car pull up.

'Anyone, just… put down the gun. You don't have to do this,'

'It sickens me to see you with Luke. You two just must rub in what I lost, don't you? I was sixteen when my soulfinder died in front of me. I had known her for two days,' He shouted in my face. 'I watched her die in a car crash, I was in the car behind her. I watched her die,' Edward was now crying, the gun shaking even more. 'I tried to save Luke and Theo from that unhappy, painful world, claiming them into my Kingdom to protect them, because I love them. And then you and Luke – everything you two did ripped apart that World I had built for them – that dance you two did, it was sickening to watch how much Luke had changed. It was like you were rubbing it in my face that you two had each other and I had no one,'

'You always had Luke and Theo, and you had Caroline,'

'But none of that replaced what I lost, Grace!' Edward shouted and I saw Mycelia walking down the path, carrying a large plastic bag. She frowned as she saw the door open and looked into the window and we met eyes for a question. She saw my hands in the air and I shook my head slightly and she backed out of difference.

'I never got to kids with my Soulfinder, and that came along before you even knew each other for nine month!' Edward pointed to Lila in the cot. 'Luke has everything I ever wanted, and he's rubbing it in,'

'I'm so sorry, Edward,' I whispered to him.

'No – no you're not!'

'Drop the gun, Edward,' I heard someone say behind him and I frowned at the voice. I looked behind him briefly and saw Mycelia standing behind him, a few feet away, gun pointed at his head and I looked back at the gun pointed at me before doing a double take. What the hell was Mycelia doing with a gun. 'We can sort out his mess, we can get you help. Don't blame this on Grace, don't hurt Grace?'

Edward frowned at me, not even butting when he heard the magazine click into the gun. 'Hurt Grace?' He whispered, toying the words in his mouth. 'Oh no, my plan was to never hurt Grace. I wanted to hurt Grace and Luke in a way they can't escape.'

I frowned and everything happened in slow motion; Edward turned his gun to Lila's travel cot. And in one movement, I jumped in front of Lila's cot at the exact same time as Edward's gun went off. Mycelia behind him fired her gun too, hitting Edward but I barely had time to focus on that as the bullet went straight through my chest like I was made out of Play-doh and settled into my lung.


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48**

 **Luke's POV**

I continued to sit at the head of the table for what felt like hours on end – not that I was listening to what they were saying. I felt tired and drained as I sat there, fiddling with the tablet in front of me and had zoned out wandering about everything. Of course, I wondered how my girls were doing. As much as I didn't believe Edward on anything, I had to believe him that Grace and Lila had got to hospital safe. The men continued to talk as I sat there.

Of course, my family would be there by Grace's side immediately, and I knew Jack and Markie would be there too. I didn't know if Grace's extended family – her cousins, aunts and uncles – would be able to come over but knowing what they were like they would be by her side at the earliest possible time. Grace's family was weird. She was close to her extended family. They were all constantly talking and messaging each other and visiting each other. I barely spoke to my cousins and only exchanged a few pleasantries at events when I must be there – some of my cousins were jealous of status, the others just didn't like Theo and myself because we weren't stuck up our own arses. Many of my cousins, aunts and uncles were annoyed because I had a child and a fiancé who has both, jointly, taken priority in my life.

Lila really showed me a new dimension to life. I heard people who have had kids say that and always thought it wasn't possible – but it was. As I lay there at night with Lila asleep on the chest, Grace beside me curled asleep too, I realised that this is what I always wanted. I had lost some friends; primarily those from Surrey University as well as Bournemouth University who had been in my lectures. Those who proved good friends still messaged me despite my tardy replies. All of them had gone out of their way to come and meet Lila too. The family had stopped talking to me, and Mum reported to me some of those who complained about my daughter as if it affects them at all. It really showed me who was important within my life. Grace who was always there, egging me on to do things that I wouldn't have had the courage to do.

Theo who had always been there too, as an older brother should, but had taken it to all kinds of new levels when I had found Grace. In the beginning, he had been willing to cover my relationship with Grace, and then when Grace was kidnapped, he was the first one to be with me. He stayed in the same room as me as I went from shock and despair to some dark, aggressive place. He kept me sane, he took control of the decisions that would have otherwise been in my hands and done what was best for Grace even though we had no idea if she was alive or not. The second she was in the hospital, he made sure the decisions continued about her health when I stayed with her. And following her attack on me, he continued to help me. He really proved what siblings were supposed to do.

When he found out about Grace's pregnant, he didn't flip out or even let me know or question me. He found out during the paperwork and moved on near enough instantly without telling me he had any idea. The last thing I would have wanted was someone constantly questioning me about it, but of course Theo never did that. He simply made the best calls for Grace (and the baby) whilst I was unable to do so. I only found out he knew when he apologised for not letting me in the room when she was awake to have an ultrasound.

Even after, when Grace was medically well enough to be brought back to the Palace but still wanted to attack me whenever she saw me, Theo was right there beside me the entire time. He arranged the medical care for her, made sure she was safe the entire time. He was the one to convince everyone that Grace should be allowed to see me when she started to fight her own mind later. Not to even mention how good he had been to myself and Grace after her mind was cleared from whatever it was.

I did owe a lot to Theo, but he never actually expected me to thank him for doing any of the stuff he did. It was just who he was. I knew, when the time came to it, he would make an excellent King. Out of the two of us, he was always the one for the job – even if I was older than him. He was the sensible, polite one who always thought before he acted. Compared to me, who appeared to always be in some form of trouble. Literally the second I was at the event; be a tour, an opening or some kind of visit, I would do something that would be "inappropriate" and the papers would be over me like flies, criticising me. Theo, somehow, avoids all of that by being smart and polite and he does everything correct. Perfect. King.

I zoned back into the room and the men were still talking about the best way of creating more compounds – as they called them – in order to maximise a number of people they can recruit for their programme. The way they talked made it seem like a military operation. I struggled not to cringe and wrinkle my nose in disgust as I overheard their conversation. But I knew I had to be here alone in order to protect Grace and Lila. If I didn't offer to cooperate, they would still be here in danger. I had to keep my girl's safe.

'We aim to have the compound open by late Spring next year,' The man on the right two seats down said.

'Will it not be completed sooner?' The man opposite asked. I knew none of their names or anything about them, really. Nor did I care. In all honesty, I was hoping a rescue team would kick down the door anytime soon but I knew it was futile. It had been way too long since Grace left, and they would have been ready to get me any time now – well, they would have got me out of here about twenty-four hours ago. So I now had to accept the reality that, potentially, I might not be getting out of this hell hold.

'We can't rush this, we have to make sure no security services have the location of the compound before even bothering to move audits over there,' I wondered why they spoke about their new location in such cryptic terms; the compound, referring to items as _audits_. It was either they thought of this as a military operation, or they knew I was here against my will and will, the second I got out of here, report all information I could to police and military intelligence.

'What do you propose, Alex? You'll be heading up the new compound along with your father?' I heard them say absently and wondered why Alex was as I continued to run my finger over the screen of the tablet in front of me. The silence filled the room. 'Sorry, Alex,' The man said, who was still stood up, and I finally looked up as the silence dragged on. Everyone was looking at me.

'Who?' I asked the first time I had dared to speak in this room full of lunatic.

'Alex, right? I was asking your opinion on the new compound. You and your father, Edward, will be heading the new compound together. I was asking if you would be willing to try and rush the opening despite the overwhelming lack of audit materials you have in the next yearly quarter,' The man asked me and I frowned.

Two things struck me; the men referred to me as Alex. Obviously, that was not my name. It did cross my mind that they would have to give staff members different names. It lined up with what Grace had mentioned after she had returned from this Hell hold. The boy that had been rescued with her, an eighteen-year-old boy who had been missing since his early teenage years, had a completely different name to what he was telling police. His name was Jamie. However, the name he had been given after his mind was wiped when he was a kid and abducted and reported missing, was Alec. Grace referred to him on more than one occasion as Alec. So, why would it be any different that the name was given to me – or rather, decided for me by my father – was Alex.

I knew what my father had done to give me that name. My full name was Luke William Alexander Evans. Not that I was ever referred to by my full name. No one off the top of my head could repeat my full name. So, it was safe for my father to pick my second middle name, shorten it to the most common abbreviation of Alexander and therefore, I was Alex.

'Er, I don't know. Whatever you deem necessary,' I told the gentleman and he nodded curtly, pleased I had responded whilst completely avoiding giving any answers.

The gentlemen went back to talking and I zoned out again, my mind wandering straight back to my daughter and wondering how she'll grow up without me being there. I knew Grace was an incredible parent despite always slagging herself off. She always thought I was the superior parent out of the pair of us but it was clear that she had that maternal instinct that appeared out of nowhere the second she gave birth. The way she held and comforted her daughter was just incredible – it was almost like they were one person. Not to mention the hours she had looked after Lila alone once I had gone back to work.

A horrible squeal of some form of alarm filled the room for only a brief second before all the lights went out, leaving us all in silence and in dark.

'What was that?' One of the men asked.

'Power surge,' Another one said, nodding. 'It's due to the works a few towns down from there. They're rewiring the town. I got a newsletter through my door about it a week or so ago,' The man said, straightening his tie again.

'You don't live here?' I asked curiously and all the men looked at me like I said I would sleep with them all. At the same time.

'Of course, we don't, Alex, we're not part of the workforce. We are trusted to have our own houses outside the regime and outside of this compound. We commute here every time, and our families stay at home. They are not foot soldiers and are not expendable, unlike everyone else in this building,' I got told as some men went about angling their tablets to the ceiling to produce a dark light in the room. Others got out their smartphones and turned them onto the torch setting, illuminating the room.

'They never stop the building works down here, do they?' The gentleman down the far end of the table asked the one who explained about the flyer through his door. I really should have paid attention to names.

'Na,' He said in reply. 'The works are meant to last five weeks and power surges could be expected in the first week of work as well as the last. They are trying to sort out how to reroute the power through temporary means to do the work in the pylons, and the last week is rerouting it back to the pylons,' The man said to us simply like he would do to his own children.

'Well, then, we may as well continue our meeting in the dark, we still are not half way through our agenda.' The man who had been leading the meeting said and everyone agreed, sitting back down in their chairs and directing their gaze to the man on the right two seats down.

They continued to talk about audits and so on and I frowned down at the tablet in front of me, the only one which hadn't been set to torch settings. Southern Cornwall was not known for its time spent in road works or building works – and there was no such thing as electric upgrades, and surely it would never cause power surges? It would be far too dangerous for the workers nearby and the benefit of doing such work would never outweigh the inconvenience for people especially in peak summer tourist season. It seemed very ropey at best.

I didn't notice it at first, but my brain felt foggy and everyone in the room seemed out of place, fazed, and their words were not computing in my mind. Sitting forward slightly as I noticed, I remembered how certain Savant's could place a complete shield around people, hiding their thoughts and telepathic conversations.

Someone was trying to contact me telepathically. I immediately focused in on it.

 _Luke. Where the hell are you?_

Victor? Grace's cousin? Why was he in England – and why was he trying to find me within this place? It dawned on me quickly that the "power surge" must have been caused by the rescue operation to get me out of here, taking out the prior alarm system and any other security systems along with it. The rescue operation, which included Vick for some reason, was here to get my ass out.

 _Fifth-floor board room – where we found Grace last time._ I replied back quickly and felt Vick move closer as a team of people dressed in black armed with guns stormed up the stairs. I tried not to widen my eyes.

 _Specifically, where are you in the room? Are there other people with you and what kind of weapons do they have? Are you okay and able to get out of here unassisted?_ He asked back quickly and based on the strength of the telepathic conversation, I knew he was heading up the exact same stairs I had done when I came to rescue Grace.

 _I'm at the top of the table. As you enter the room, to the left there is a table. There are eight other men sitting around the table, and I'm at the top. None of them has guns but I don't know what their gifts are and I'm alright to get out unassisted._

 _When the door gets kicked down, immediately get up and turn and face the wall with your hands up. Someone will frisk you down to make sure they haven't placed any explosives or weapons on you at all and will escort you out. It will get messy in there, so get ready to turn your back to the wall. Don't attempt any heroics because all the men are armed and will shoot at anyone who gets in their way. Get me?_ Victor said and I knew he was only four floors down and I widened my eyes.

 _Got it._

Victor cut off quickly and I moved my chair so I wasn't sitting on my feet anymore, and turned so I could get up the second that door opens. None of the men noticed my movements thankfully. Time seemed to go slow as I worked out how long it would take for that team, which included Victor, to get to this floor. I counted the floors down in my head; five, four, three, two…

I might have been making it up but I could almost, when straining my ears to the maximum, the righteous thunder caused by steel toes boots on metal staircases coming up on the wall behind me. One. Zero. By now, they would be on the floor. The noise had disappeared and I held my breath as the men in the room continued to speak like nothing was going to happen.

Everything happened at once. Both doors opened at the same time and I saw the man who sat directly in front of the door fall to the floor. I immediately jumped up and faced the wall, hands in the air as Victor told me as something whizzed past me and hit the wall beside me. I tensed, almost waiting for the bullet to hit me. The fire continued for almost thirty seconds and there were sounds of boots on the floor, men crying out in pain before it all fell silent.

A man came up and roughly patted me down, checking pockets and making sure I had nothing to me and, through the thick black mask with a clear Perspex slot for his eyes and heavy black clothing, he gestured for me to turn around. And then he took off the blazer from me, throwing it on the floor, and undid the tie as well.

'Trackers,' He said coarsely through his mask and I nodded. 'Shoes off,' He said and I kicked off the shoes as well.

'Trackers in those as well?' I asked and he nodded.

'Welcome back Perky,' Victor said, entering the room in the same attire as the man talking to me. He frisbeed a gun across the room at me. 'Safety is on, but it is locked and loaded. We need to get you the hell out of here, your country needs you. And your fiancé, and your child,' Victor added as he gestured for me to get out the room. I jogged to keep up with the receding team he was with as Victor fell behind me, holding his armed gun at the ready. Four men, who must have stayed outside, followed him doing the exact same thing.

'Grace and Lila?' I asked as we all headed back into the staircase. I knew it was a Hell of a long way down – good twenty odd floors but I was more than willing to do it at the fast pace the men in front were setting. Anything to get out of this place.

'They're both fine – Grace is a bit beaten up when we found her in Scotland, a broken rib and bruises, Lila was just cold, but they're both fine and have been discharged from the hospital. Mycelia has taken them back to hers, for now, to keep them safe whilst we were doing this operation to get you out,' Victor filled me in and I nodded.

'You got Edward?' I asked.

'He's not here?'

'No – he left this morning to go have meeting about supplies,'

Victor cursed under his breath. 'We'll work something out.'

There wasn't much I could reply to that. I just aimlessly followed the men in front of me as they ran down the winding staircase. We eventually got down to the ground floor, where people – security guards, by the looks of it – laid on the floor and I realised what was sticking out their backs. They were using tranquillizer guns, knocking people unconscious rather than killing them. I thought back to the board meeting. There was no blood on the floor, but the impacts were heavier than tranquillizer darts. They must have used riot bullets. Coarse, rubber bullets that hurt on far range impact and done God knows what when fired from ten feet away.

I watched my step carefully as I exited the building, squinting at the warm sunny day outside. I was fully aware I hadn't seen the sun for… I couldn't even remember when I was kidnapped and how long I had been missing for. Victor looked at me for a second and handed me a pair of sunglasses that I gratefully put on.

'What's the plan?' I said, feeling a bit stupid we were standing right outside the place I had just been rescued from.

'Brief headcount, then we're taking you to a helicopter to get you to a hospital to get you checked out,' Victor said to me and I frowned.

'Checked out?'

'You've been in that compound for ages, it's just if you're injured we can use it in the court case,' Victor said to me and I nodded.

'Will Grace and Lila be there?' I asked Victor and he shook his head.

'We'll text them when you get into the hospital and Mycelia will bring them back – I think she said it's about a two and a half hour drive but hopefully, by the time your statement and everything is taken you'll be able to see them again,' Victor said before he got the all clear from someone. He nodded down the field. I jogged behind Victor up to the steep path leading over the hill.

It was a good 10-minute jog to get over the steep hill and when we got to the peak of the hill, I could see the helicopter waiting for a good five-minute jog away – but it was a tiny distance compared to the ordeal I had gone through the last few weeks and I knew on the other side of the helicopter, I could see my girls again and I would never let either of them out of my sights again.

But I knew I had to accept what my father had become eventually. It was a completely different thing when you were living in his Hell compared to when you were outside of it. I had to go and face my brother and my mother who would completely bombard me with questions.

I had to go and face Grace and Jack again, knowing my father had killed their parents – that would be a good enough reason for them to hate me. Sure, Grace didn't hate me when we found out in the compound but now she had time to really reflect on that information.

We came to the helicopter and the door was pushed open and Victor gestured for me to climb in, which I did without question. He climbed in behind us and before the door was even pulled, the helicopter was in the air. I found the headset on the chair beside me and I quickly picked it up and put it on.

'Welcome back, your Royal Highness,' Marius said opposite me, a small smile on his face.

'Thank you,' I said to him.

'So where are we heading?'

'A small private hospital about four hours away from London, your Highness. Grace was taken there when she was found – all medical staff have been primed and prepped with the case and have been heavily vetted.' Marius said. 'There are people waiting to take your full statement. The doctors will do a full exam and note any injuries you have gained, then you'll be handed over for your statement. Unfortunately, you won't be able to see Grace or Lila until the statement has been taken – to save cross contamination between your statement and Grace's.' Marius explained.

'Grace text me when she arrived at Mycelia's about… an hour ago? She was asleep going there and had only just woke up but both her and Lila and completely fine,' Victor told me and I smiled and nodded.

'We had to physically stop Grace to come on this mission,' Marius said and I smiled.

'Sounds like Grace,' I said.

Both Victor and Marius had gone back to sending messages and texting and phoning people as I sat there waiting. It was an hour flight back that I spent in silence just heavy in thought.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

I had spent three hours with doctors and police and military intelligence. The doctor had stripped me down to my underwear, scanned me to make sure I didn't have any tracking chips in my body (which I didn't) before examining near enough every inch of me, noting any bruises I had, any cuts, anything that had changed or has arisen since my time in the compound. I was then herded to a random hospital room which has cameras set up.

The police had asked me hundreds of questions, and I had been asked to explain what had happened day by day from the second I got there. Nothing had happened much before Grace left, and based on their satisfied nods it was exactly what Grace had told them. However, their interest had sparked when I got to the part where Grace had left.

I had got into the last day and into the meeting I was involved when someone had come into the room, calling out Toeskin from the room. I frowned at the other 4 members in the room who looked between each other – I knew two were high up in the police force, and the other two were high up in various military intelligence and, of course, Grace's boss in MI5 – Toeskin – was the one orchestrating the interview.

'Should I go on?' I asked tentatively as I saw someone talking very quickly and gesturing a lot to Toeskin outside, and Toeskin couldn't quite understand what was happening.

'Perhaps just wait a moment,' One of the guys said and I nodded.

It was about five minutes until Toeskin came back in.

'Gentleman, can you give us a second?' Toeskin said sadly and I looked up in alarm. The four men looked concerned too before filing out the room.

'What's happened?' I asked and he sighed sitting down.

'Grace has been rushed back into hospital,' Toeskin said quietly and my heart stopped.

'What? I thought she was safe? What has happened?' I asked. 'Where is she? Is she here? Can I see her?' I asked.

'She was at Mycelia's house with Lila, we thought she was safe. Mycelia had gone to the shops a few minutes away to go and pick up some nappies for Lila. She had come home, and Edward was In her house, pointing a gun at Grace,' Toeksin said and my mouth dropped and I shook my head in shock. No? 'Mycelia had been given a gun by us in case something happened. When she came in, she told Edward not to hurt Grace.'

'No,' I mumbled and Toeskin closed his eyes.

'Edward wanted to shoot Lila, not Grace,'

My heart literally stopped and I teared up. Edward tried to kill my daughter?

'He fired his gun at Lila's cot but Grace jumped in the way. The bullet hit her lung – she's in theatre in critical condition, they don't know if she'll make it. We're going to take you to that hospital now, grab your jacket,' Toeskin said and I did what he said but I couldn't process what he was saying.

'… what do you mean?' I asked in shock as I followed him down corridors into a lift, where we were taken to the top floor.

'The bullet just tore through her and into her lung, thankfully Xav was a minute away and he started to heal her but she just about made it to hospital still breathing. Her right lung was punctured, the bullet missed her heart, but she's in theatre as we speak. This happened a few hours ago and she's still in there. Lila is fine, though,' Toeskin said as he pushed me into the helicopter as I wasn't really reacting to what he was saying.

I just remained silent as the realisation hit me – my fiancé could be dead by the time I get to the hospital. I might not be able to see my Grace again. She might be dead now. I closed my eyes I started to cry.

 _Grace, please. Please hang on for me. Please._ I begged her telepathically – but it felt like she wasn't there. It felt like she had already gone.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Heya!**

I hope everyone is doing okay - just so you know this might be my last time posting, for a while at least. I am re-entering school after being off for a year due to ill health and had to catch up on school work. I know this isn't the best chapter, but I wanted Luke to find out about Grace before I go back into Grace's POV.

Okay, so now is the issue; people have messaged me about making a FanFiction about Theo (Luke's older brother) and I am toying with the idea. I do like that idea and I have a potential story line for it but I won't do it unless you guys would read it - so please review and let me know if you would or you would just prefer this to end and not have another one.

Also I am starting to write my own book that is based on paranormal and the anomalistic psychology (so telepathy and psychokinesis and other phenomenas like that) which I hope to have up on a different website - Wattpad - soon. Would you want me to link to it? would you want to read that?

Thank you all so much, and don't forget to review! x


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49**

 **Grace's POV**

I never really understood how lucky I was to get into Cambridge – and I suppose it must have come down to my complete lack of real friends within my Sixth Form years. If I had not got into Cambridge and gone to university to do the course I fell in love with, I would not have anything I had now. I would not have met Luke, and I would not have Lila. So I really did have to thank my complete lack of real friends when I was sixteen through eighteen.

I was kind of the family failure at the age of 16. When Jack had undergone his GCSE exams he came out with over twenty GCSE's which, even though I thought it was impossible to get that many, I thought I would try and beat him – especially as he had gone five GCSE's alone in science which had always been my subject to shine at. He was the maths one, I was the more practical, science based child.

However, he had only done so well because every break time and lunch time he locked himself in the library due to his relentless bullying, simply because of his sexuality. Both my mum and I had known for ages Jack was gay. Not because he wore dresses or had an interest in makeup or anything – but simply because we both have the same childhood crushes on the Prince's in Disney films. A group of boys used to rip him to shreds so he just decided to hide away from them.

Personally, I wasn't having any of that. I decided, in my final two years of secondary school, to devote my time to help other kids who end up in Jack's situation. Jack hasn't been an argumentative boy – not ever. I was the one with the gob who'd get in trouble – my brother was very shy in comparison. He wouldn't stand up for himself, so I decided to stand up for him. So I spent two years building a safe zone for LGBTQ+ school children, raising funds and awareness for not only my own secondary school but also those paired with my school.

In results, I had only got seven GCSE's and disappointed everyone. I had a potential for a scholarship in a private all-girl sixth form but instead has to go to a sixth form college. So I went with my clutch of GCSE's and my chosen 4 A-level subjects, hoping to make friends as I had lost the vast majority of mine in my old school.

Okay, I did make around 7 friends, two of which I was close with. However, they never really bothered with me. They used to go out without inviting me, in free periods I had with them they used to go down the local town to get lunch – without me. I didn't fit in. But it was fine because I spent that time studying. It went on like that for two years but I just stuck my head down and continued on. It showed in my first year's results; all the highest grade possible. My teacher pulled me into one of the rooms on results day – the teacher who really believed in me all the time – and told me to apply for Oxbridge.

I laughed in her face – me? Oxbridge? Ha!

Okay, I could get the fees covered thanks to the Student Finance schemes they have in the UK but – it seemed almost laughable. For psychology, Cambridge was voted 3rd best in the world. Oxford was 4th. I couldn't get into Oxbridge!

My teacher persuaded me just to try, she will help me do the paperwork and the school will pay the fees to put in the application so, without telling anyone and not even telling my parents or Jack, I handed in the paperwork. I was shocked when I got a call the next day for an interview. Sure enough, after the interview, they wanted an essay on a very specific topic of psychology of my choice. I finished that completely fine, the teacher checked it over and so on. Then I got called in for pre-entry exams. I had to tell my parents then, and they didn't even believe me. I had to show them my forms and then they were ecstatic. But I smashed the entry exams for Cambridge and got an offer.

My friends were pissed off, not happy. They were annoyed I didn't tell them. They were annoyed that I was doing better than them. We had started to drift apart, but we still texted often and sat next to each other. I had finished my exams, left happy, got some snacks on the way home, and went to wait for my parents to return home.

That was the day they crashed.

I wanted my friends a few days after my own parent's funerals – I had to bury my own parents and I just wanted a normal day with my friends. Jack had gone to see Markie, and my friends were due at any minute. They all cancelled because I was "being weird" and some other girl has a tiki-themed party they were scheduled to go to.

I was being weird three days after both of my parent's funeral, and they could not be dealing with seeing the weird girl who was thick in grief.

Skip forward until mid-August when I was due to get my A-level results. I had got the email in the morning welcoming me into Cambridge so I knew I had got the results needed, thus being good results. However, my friends had decided to ignore my messages about meeting up on the results day so I had to go alone.

But Jack decided to come with me instead, giving me moral support. We walked into the college half an hour after it opened for the results and the entire place fell silent. Everyone knew. We had posted it on Facebook so no one spoke to us about it, but it meant everyone knew. And everyone just remained… silent. My old friends stood to one side. Silent. Just watching. I picked up my envelope of results and went to my old psychology room to hide away with Jack by my side and sure enough none of my old friends even bothered to come find me – and they didn't even bother messaging me at all whilst I was in university.

But like many others, the second they knew about my relationship with Luke, they decided to get in touch. They all message me separately, saying it was weird how we didn't speak for so long and asking how I was, and when I didn't reply to any of those messages they made a group chat. Sure, they had been my friends for a while but when I needed friends the most when I needed that shoulder to cry on and someone to be there for me – none of them were there. They all wanted to be fun and adventurous – go to festivals every other weekend and cheap nightclubs in 80's-style buildings in the middle of the town centre – rather than have a girly night in with supermarket-bought face masks and cheesy films. They didn't even attend my parent's funeral. But the second they saw a chance to allegedly know someone within the Royal family, they jumped on it. I wasn't having any of it.

It happened again when Luke posted the photo of the ultrasound on Instagram. They all messaged me with messages of congratulations and saying they were over the moon for me. I replied a very blunt, short thank you message, and muted the chat. I checked it regularly and saw they were sending cute names about my own child, the daughter of someone they had only ever seen in the media and had fantasised about when we were in Sixth Form together. They were on about buying baby clothes and toys and asking what address to send them too – but I knew it was an excuse for them to come to the house and meet Luke – meet the Prince they had fangirled over for many hours in their teenage years.

So with my Sixth Form friends being complete flops and were useless, I was really lucky to make the friends I did in Cambridge. I had assumed everyone who was there to be stuck up their own arses and fancy, with parents who provided everything from horses to new car each year. I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried. Mycelia and Sara were the most down to Earth people who got in purely from good grades, and we had got on like a house on fire.

Compared to my Sixth Form friends, they were always beside me in pyjamas in our student house when I was having bad day, ordering pizza or somehow supplying crappy food. They met my brother and Markie soon after we moved in and got on like a house on fire. They had even met some of my cousins who visited occasionally. When it came to a year since the car crash and I wanted to go to my parent's joint grave, they joined me in my car on the way there. They stayed in the car whilst I went to see the grave, and as I broke down in tears, they came over and stayed with me, hugging me gently.

They were shocked to find out about myself and Luke, which is fair enough, but they still just went on with it like anyone else would. That is what real friends do – they roll with whatever you tell them, even if that "whatever" you told them is the fact you're dating a Prince.

I shivered, hugging myself as I realised how bitingly cold it was. That was weird for summer, but in England, I couldn't really question it too much. It can go from being a heatwave to pissing it down and hailing the next day. I probably just went out in the rain and caught a cold. But I tried to hug myself to gather heat as I was shivering insane amounts.

And it hit me hard – I had no idea where I was. Everything was dark, I couldn't make out where I was. I felt heavy but light and free at the same time. My lungs hurt, though, like there was a cast iron weight on my chest, making it impossible for myself to breathe. But I was okay with that, it felt okay. It was painful, sure, but it was a nice pain. It made sense in the darkness.

There were slight whispers in the darkness. I couldn't make them out. Someone was almost talking to me but there was no one around me. I frowned but the voices never materialised and I just carried on in the darkness, struggling to breathe but making do as I floated around.

But the pain! It felt like someone was pouring lava straight into my lungs. It killed – it burnt everything inside me at the same time so much so I could not do anything about it. I gasped but it did nothing for the pain. I curled up, trying to hide from the source of this pain but it didn't work.

Please. I don't want to be in this pain anymore.

Please.

 _Oh._ I realised at the same time as I begged for the pain to stop. _Oh, I understand now._

I let the pain engulf me, and after, so did the darkness.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Luke's POV**

The second I got off the helicopter, I felt numb and hollow. It was almost like I knew Grace was gone. I had tried the entire journey to contact her telepathically but I felt nothing. Even when she was kidnapped, and even when she hated me, I still felt her there. I knew she was okay because that connection was there. But this time, there was nothing. And it terrified me. She had jumped in front of Lila to save Lila's life – but she might have lost her own.

There should be anger towards Edward – but nothing could overcome this sense of dread and anxiety, the sense of foreboding. Men tried to speak to me, people I didn't even know said vacant words and me but I couldn't focus. What was the point in focusing when the only reason I had to focus was gone?

No – I had to keep it together. For Lila. She was the other reason I had. Even if Grace was injured beyond repair or worse, I still had to look after my daughter. Lila was just a baby, she still relied on myself and Grace for everything. She couldn't lose both of us.

Someone pushed me into a walk, and I numbly followed behind the men. They all took me into a lift, guarding me. Oh, they were guards – I had only just noticed the matching black attire and the fact all of them had guns on. Some of them had walkie talkies on their belt, and it flashed between red and green and colourless. The lift eventually shuddered to a stop and the men marched out onto the floor, opening a door just in front of them.

I immediately saw Mycelia in front of me, holding Lila in her arms. Her face was damp and her mascara was down her face and she was holding Lila like she was protecting her with her life. I guess she was. Mycelia ran straight towards me, hugging me tight with Lila in the middle of us and I started crying again.

'Luke, Luke, she's not dead,' Mycelia told me urgently and I frowned.

'What?' I whispered.

'She's in surgery. She's alive but barely.' Mycelia said as she handed Lila to me – who was awake and just watching me with a small smile on her face, completely oblivious to anything that was happening to her Mummy. I held her tight, gently smiling down at her as Mycelia's words hit me.

'She's… alive?' I asked and Mycelia nodded.

'Xav, he was coming to visit, he got there a few minutes after she was shot. He managed to stem the bleeding enough to get her into hospital. They don't know if she'll make it, she keeps stopping her breathing completely. They're doing all they can but the last time a doctor filled me in, she was alive.' Mycelia told me and my mouth dropped. Grace is still alive?

'You need to keep it together for her,' Mycelia whispered to me. 'She needs you there, and so does Lila,'

Mycelia and I had sat in that room for another thirty minutes in silence as we continued to cry together and then we just remained in silence. Police eventually called Mycelia out the room and I saw her get arrested and I immediately got up and walked out the room, Lila now asleep in my arms.

'What?' I immediately asked the police officers and I heard someone with shoes, new shoes with metal fronts, walk up behind me.

'Luke, head back into that room,' Toeskin told me.

'No… No – why is she getting arrested? What had she done? She hasn't done anything wrong,' I said to the police who looked at each other confused before turning around to Toeskin, who now had his hand on my back trying to usher me back into the family room I had been in previous.

'Your Highness,' The police officer said.

'She didn't shoot Grace?' I told them and they shook their heads.

'No, no she didn't – but,'

'Then no buts, she isn't to be held responsible for this,' I added.

'She isn't being held responsible for Grace's shooting,' The police officers told me confused. 'She's only being investigated into Edward's death,' They looked at me like I should have known that and I frowned, looking at Mycelia as her head was hung towards the floor.

'Officers,' Toeskin said and Mycelia was marched off down the hall, and all I did was stand there watching her being taken down the hallway and into a lift.

'Luke, I am sorry…' he went to say.

'No, hang on,' I stopped him. 'What did they mean?' I quizzed him.

'Come into the room, sit down,' Andrew said, or as Grace liked to call him -Toeskin – said. My heart ached just thinking about Grace and what state she might be in. I was really too numb to ask much more and protest.

Andrew sighed deeply as I adjusted how I was holding Lila. He looked down at the car seat that remained in front of me, but I had a deep fear that if I put my sleeping daughter into that car seat she, too, would disappear from me like Grace had done. So I continued to hold her tight, in my arms, where no one can take her from me.

'You know Edward broke into Mycelia's house, he pointed his gun at Grace, and when Mycelia told him not to shoot Grace, he moved his gun to Lila's cot and fired his gun,' Andrew said softly and my throat seized up. I nodded. My own father wanted to shoot my daughter to hurt me and Grace, to get back at us. He wanted to kill Lila. I hugged her even tighter. 'We issued Mycelia a gun in case something happened. She pulled out the gun and aimed it at Edward when she saw him aiming his gun towards Grace. She fired the same time he fired at Lila. We believe the guns went off simultaneously, each of them sensing the others moves. So whilst Grace was shot, Edward was shot at the same time. Xav only focused on stabilising Grace's injuries, but Edward's injuries were fatal immediately. I'm so sorry, Luke, but your father passed away,' He explained.

I should be sad. I knew I should be sad. I should probably be screaming out in anguish, declaring that what he told me was wrong, telling him that he was not telling the truth and it was a mix-up. I should be a wreck. My whole world should be falling apart more than it already was.

But I was calm. I felt calmer than I had in a while. My father was dead, and I was calm and almost happy with the result.

He wasn't my father anymore. He was only a sperm donor, used to create me but he was not any more than that. He tried to kill my fiancé three times now, he tried to shoot and kill my daughter. He killed Grace's parents. He killed countless others, ruined hundreds upon hundreds of life's – he got what was coming for him and I was completely relieved. He deserved it – almost. I didn't believe what I was saying but a bullet for a bullet rang true here, and he met his match. I nodded at what Andrew said and he frowned at me.

'I'll give you time to think, your Mum and brother are on their way and they know the news,' He said softly before going to leave the room.

'I don't need time to think,' I said curtly. 'What's going to happen to Mycelia,'

'It depends on what your mother says. She'll be tried to murder in the High Court most likely, but your mother can stop all charges – but I doubt it,'

'Right,' I said simply.

And I was left alone, probably to think. I gently brushed Lila's cheek as I sat in the room alone with no one to talk to keep me sane. All I had was my thoughts to keep my occupied; so I guess I had time to "think". But all I could think about was how this had all turned sour so quickly. When Edward and my Mum divorced, we thought it was all over. Well, we had no idea that Edward would do such a thing – we thought he was just a bastard.

Then we got kidnapped by him. I and Grace were in the same place, sure, but Lila was miles away. He went out of his way to kidnap my two-month-old daughter. He then kept us hostage, locked us in his own room in his own tower, alone. When I bargained with him to get Grace and Lila out to safety, he then beat up Grace.

I thought that was the worst bit – he had abused Grace but it goes so, so much worse. In hindsight, how easily I managed to get Grace out of there. I should have thought – I should have kept her with me. I should have been there to protect her but instead, I traded her off for her safety and ended up getting her into this situation. Edward knew, the second I said I wanted her out, what he could do. He could keep me in his little Kingdom where he was the big boss, keeping me complying with his rules in hope to get Grace and Lila with me and keep them safe. He would then kill Lila – even thinking about it choked me up – and break Grace into pieces to the point she wouldn't be able to function. God knows what he had for Grace if his plan succeeded but he would not allow her to live.

But that all buggered up very quick. The operation to get me out was successful as he wasn't there. Mycelia was issued a gun. Xav was just down the road at the time. Grace jumped in front of a bullet to save our daughter without even considering it. She saved Lila's life no doubt about it. If that bullet hit Lila she would not have been able to live, even if Xav was just down the road. I held Lila tight, hugging her. Grace saved our baby girls life at the potential cost of her own.

In a way, I was glad my father was dead. He was nothing to me. His death did not impact me in the slightest. I had to thank Mycelia in a way. He tried to ruin me, and Theo and Mum as well, before Grace ever arrived – to no success. And then he tried to break Grace, to no success. And then he tried to kill my daughter and ended up putting Grace in a critical grave condition where she might not even make it through surgery.

The door opened and I immediately looked up. Theo stood in the doorway with Mum just behind. Both of their eyes were puffy and red where you could tell they had been crying and both looked very scared and tentative. I stood up and Theo immediately came over to me and hugged me. Mum joined in gently playing with my hair and I started to cry, eventually breaking down with the weight of what was happening. Theo whispered something to Mum, before gently teasing Lila out of my arms and putting her in the car seat she had been brought as Mum continued to hug me, eventually sitting me down on the settee and I continued to sob.

'Grace will be fine, Luke, I know she'll be fine,' She whispered to me and I shook my head.

'It's my fault,' Both Theo and Mum protested.

'Oh, sweetheart, this is not your fault. None of us could have predicted this to happen, you aren't to blame,' Mum said to me softly as I slouched so much I could lean against her like I was a little kid again.

There was silence as I calmed myself down, and I knew Mum and Theo were talking telepathically.

'Luke… I guess you've been told about… Dad? Well, Edward?' Theo told me and I nodded.

'Please don't send Mycelia to prison,' I whispered to Mum and she hugged me.

'I won't,' She whispered to me as she hugged me like we were kids. Theo came over, sitting next to me as well, rubbing my back and I continued to sob.

'Lila?' I mumbled trying to find her, wanting to make sure she's safe. I tried to sit up but couldn't.

'Luke, she's fine now. She's safe now.' Mum mumbled to me. 'She's safe.'

There was silence – complete silence as we all sat there trying to work out what to do, what to say to each other in these times. It dawned on me, as I dipped into the thoughts of my mother and my brother, that they were more concerned about Grace than they were about the death of their ex-husband or father. In fact – it appeared they didn't overly care too much about it. It really made no difference to them. But Grace, in her precarious condition, was the centre of attention.

The door opened and I immediately looked up. There was a doctor standing in the doorway and I stood up, stumbling over my foot. Theo stood up as well, almost ready to catch me if I would fall like some kind of protective parents. The doctor bowed his head slightly.

'Is she okay?' I asked, my voice cracking.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Grace wasn't okay.

I sat next to her hospital bed where she was hooked up to a ventilator, the machine breathing for her as she was unable to breathe for herself. The wound wasn't healing and was infected. Her heart kept stopping. She went without oxygen for a decent amount of time and they are unsure if she has brain damaged due to oxygen deprivation.

They were unsure if she would ever wake up.

I could barely look at her in the face, but at the same time, I could not stop looking at her. Grace looked so small in the bed, so pale, so ill. I wanted to hold her tight, to hold her as she falls asleep like we once did. I want to walk in on her, holding our daughter with that small smile on her face that she always had when with Lila. But I might never see that side of her again. She might just be alive on the ventilator. She might – I might – have to turn off the…

No. She had to be okay. She had to be, she was my little fighter.

I ran my hand through her hair, hoping to see a small smile or some signs of life, some signs that she was still there but there was nothing and I started to tear up again.

I had to remind myself that the doctor said she was doing well for someone in her circumstances. Gunshot injuries within the UK were rare, especially of this nature, but in comparison to others who were shot in the lung, she was doing well. Despite her heart stopping numerous times, and each time taking longer to restart her heart, she was still alive. I had to remind myself, she is still alive. She is still in the shell of her body.

'Grace?' I whispered tentatively and there was nothing and it hurt.

The doctors said, that potentially, she might be able to hear me. That she might be able to engage with what I was telling her – but the probability is she wouldn't. But it was worth a go.

'I don't remember much from when I was a kid,' I told her, holding her hand and rubbing it to try and warm her up despite the heatwave that was happening outside. 'I remember the stories that were told from me and let's not even mention the footage from news clips Mum had collected for me. I remember various events from when I was around four. I was always dressed in button up t-shirts, vest jumpers and shorts – those God damn knee shorts,' I laughed under my breath.

'I remember always being the, how to put this, special child in comparison to Theo. Theo always stood there and waved when he was meant too, was adorable, the cameras loved him. We went on a tour of France with the new president, and Theo was around six, and he stood there as he got off the plane and smiled and waved and everyone loves him. I, who was directly behind him, fell over, then just laid there looking up at the sky. Of course, everyone loved Theo because he was the future heir to the Throne, and people could see him grow up and grow into the King everyone expected him to be. But no one really gave a toss about me, so I was the one that could mess around,'

'So that was the way it was, at events Theo stood there up right and happy, waving behind Mum as she walked along and I used to get bored and run off. There was an event at a farm, and Theo was happily plodding along in front of Mum, and I saw a duck with some ducklings behind that. I was only a few years old – perhaps five at the oldest – but I had never gone down a duck pond in my life and I had never even seen ducklings in person. I was amazed – and I was _gone._ I was straight over to those ducklings in a second. One second I was there, the next I made a beeline to the duck pond. I thought I was running the speed of light like I was Usain Bolt, and now I see the footage and I did the toddler waddle. No one stopped me though, cameras were trained on Theo as he walked along happily, shaking people's hands, smiling for the cameras. They didn't even notice that I had disappeared. When they did, I was sitting in my best tour shorts by the side of the duck pond as I watched the ducklings swim happily,' I laughed under my breath. The machines continue to beep at different pitches and lengths and the bed sheets around Grace was stained with blood. I continued to massage her hands.

'And it always continued like that.' I told her. 'When we went to school for the first time, absolute masses of paps came to Theo's first day when he was neatly in his school uniform. I had two – and there were no restrictions on paps then.' I don't know why I was telling her these pointless stories, but I couldn't just sit there in silence. I needed to keep talking to her – if she hears me she might wake up.

'I didn't care, I was more than happy. When you grow up with a certain lifestyle you almost don't know anything else. It's like - you know when you are a kid you have a certain bedtime routine then you stay around your friend's house for the first time and you realise they have a different routine and it throws you? It is almost like that. I was used to having cameras everywhere, I was used to having to act a certain way in public which was different to how I acted at home. For me, it was completely normal. It was only when I was nine or ten and I had friends who weren't related to me that I realised actually, there is more to life than being this picture-perfect child.'

'That's when I started to rebel, I guess. That's when I started to be myself.' I mumbled. 'I didn't want to be this picture-perfect child who was discussed at dinner tables all around the UK. I didn't want to be someone who was just a role model. I wanted to be a human. I messed around at school a bit more, on tours I tried to be myself whilst being the role model that was expected. It spiralled out of control during late teenage years, around sixteen years old. I had been sent to this extremely fancy all boys school in Berkshire – black robes and suits warn all the God damn time – and no non-school uniform days either – and I didn't want to be there. I didn't even want to be there. All these kids treating us like… well, like Royalty, and I didn't want to be that person.

'I don't know who I wanted to be, but I didn't want every outing to be covered by loads of journalists. I didn't want to be idolised. I wanted to be normal. I wanted to become a paramedic – I wanted to help people in more ways than my Mum used to tell me I could with my gifts of being a Prince. I always got told I could help anyone I wanted to by being in the right place at the right time and talking to people and being a light in times of darkness. Whilst that was great, I didn't want that – I wanted something more. I wanted to save lives. I wanted to be that light in the times of dark, yes, but not just talking to people after they've lost, I wanted to be the one to help them save the lives.

'One dinner time, I told my dreams to my father,' My throat tightened incredibly when I mentioned my father – not because I missed him but rather what he had done to Grace and my daughter. 'He told me I wasn't worth it. I could do so much better than that. I am a Prince, not some kind of NHS worker who does 60-hour weeks and travels in a big yellow box with lights. I am Royalty – we do not go to normal universities and Prince definitely do not attend university courses in medicine. I was not having that. So I told my parents, both of them, mum and Edward, I was doing different courses at college for my A-Levels than I was. I was doing Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Human Anatomy. I told them I was doing Politics, Economics, Maths and Physics. I made them miss every parents evening ever – which was easy – and I passed the first year with flying colours.

'Shitface of my father told me I was not to apply to university if it was for a course other than Politics, so I told him I did not apply for university. I did, obviously, I applied for five different universities the normal way, like you must have, to do paramedical sciences. I went to the interviews, I did the role plays needed, I did everything needed. Security took me everywhere and due to their confidentiality agreements, they could not tell everyone. I got into all five, somehow.

'I happily went to university, the first year two days a week with no shifts. The second year two days and two shifts. Father didn't even notice I was gone for four days a week, Mum did. She pulled me aside and asked me what I was doing. I told her nothing, I was just visiting places and living my life. She told me she had gone into my place at Buckingham and found my course notes. I thought she would make me quit – instead she jeered me on, told me what I was doing was absolutely incredible and she was so proud of me,' My voice broke as I could barely contain my emotions. 'She said she would continue to pretend she knew nothing about me going to university, but I had to try and cover it up some more. So I decided to do a tour in the army.

'Simulatiously, the best thing and the worst thing I have ever done. Everyone praised me for my efforts, telling me I was following in my brother's footsteps and I felt like, once again, I was doing something great. But I was terrified. I made some great friends but what I saw was enough,'

I paused. The machines had shown no signs of change whatsoever. Her room, a private room in the top trauma unit in the United Kingdom, was echoing the beeping noises. She looked tiny and feeble still. I kissed her cheek softly. My stories weren't helping her – and they were about to get darker so I decided to stop that right there. But I couldn't sit there in silence – she might still be listening to me.

'You know, when someone asks me what the best moments I spent with you are, they aren't the ones everyone would assume; they aren't us doing tours together, they aren't us on holiday or whatever everyone assumes they are. It is always the time that we were just being ourselves. It's the time I used to sneak into your room and you didn't know I was there and you were in the kitchen cooking dinner. You were mumbling singing to yourself, your hair was tied up in a low bun. You didn't know I was watching you and you were dancing too. A few minutes later, I cleared my throat and you turned around. You blushed, asked me how much I saw. I didn't reply and just came over to you and hugged you.

'Or when I was sitting on your sofa watching TV and you came out of the shower and sat next to me, leaning into me as I put my arm around you. A few minutes later, I looked over at you and you were just so…. So mesmerising. I watched you blink watching TV, smile at a joke, I saw that dimple on your cheek appear and disappeared as you moved. I saw the rise and fall of your chest.

'Or when your bump started to appear and you were in the midst of refusing to believe you were getting a bump and you were wearing clothes that barely managed to fit you – mainly t-shirts. You were dressed in this hoodie jumper from the year previous and it didn't fit, but you were not taking no for an answer. You were cooking dinner and I was beside you, helping and whilst you were sorting out the pasta I jumped up onto the worktop and watched you. You were struggling still to get over the news of our baby, but you suddenly started touching your stomach a bit more, rubbing the bump without even noticing.

'More recently, when you did a night run with Lila whilst she was crying. You were in her nursery with her and I stood in the doorway and you were talking to her calmly and sweetly, telling her you love her and she was happily giggling and smiling. I just cannot get over how lucky I am to have you, Grace.' I looked at her and she had a bit more colour to her – or was it me making things up? 'I can't lose you again. I can't lose you at all, Grace. Please, please – if you can hear me if you can understand what I am saying do not give up. You have to live – if not for me, for Lila. She needs you. She needs her mother. I know you're always joking saying I'm the better parent but I am nothing without you.' I kissed her hand crying. 'Please, Grace, just hold on. Please.'

I just cried for a while, holding her hand. And then the unthinkable happened.

Grace squeezed my hand.

'Oh my god, you can understand me?' I asked but nothing happened. 'Grace – can you hear me?' Nothing again. 'Lila is fine, I am fine. You saved Lila. You always put us two before yourself. Now we need to change that. Please hold on.'

She held my hand, gently, sure, and there wasn't much muscle control there but she was holding my hand – there was grip there. And I had hope again.


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50**

 **Luke's POV**

It took a week for Grace's condition to start to improve. After she managed to squeeze my hand, I told the next district nurse who came in every hour to check her condition and she was convinced it was just muscle spasms. I wasn't too sure – I thought it was Grace who heard me talking and wanting to let me know she was still in that shell.

Over the week that followed, she had started to improve. Four days in she was well enough to be taken off the ventilator and was able to breathe by herself with the addition of a large bulky oxygen mask. The wound over her chest had healed and her stats had very slowly started to return to normal. They predicted she would wake up anytime from now on in.

I didn't leave her room.

I sat beside her bed all hours of the day, napping on the sofa in the room, only taking very quick showers then someone else was in the room and even then I left the door open. Theo had brought in a travel cot for Lila and was bringing me clothes for her, formula milk, toys and all the other essential she needs, so she stayed in the room with us. When I could, I would rest Lila on Grace's chest in hope that it would help both of them. At least Lila would be able to still bond with Grace, and hopefully, Grace would then be able to feel Lila was also there.

Eventually, I stopped talking to her. Mainly because people have started to tell me I was going insane and I overheard them say if I didn't keep it together, they would take Lila away from me and place her in temporary care. I couldn't lose both of them. But when I knew everyone wasn't watching – so around two in the morning in the middle of the night shifts, when the lights in the corridor were off and no nurses were on active duty and Lila was asleep, I would sit down beside Grace and hold her freezing hand and talk to her. I would tell her stories and tell her how she's recovering. They believed she would wake up any day now but it was risky. She might not remember anything, she might wake up and struggle to breathe.

At the moment, Grace was lying on her back, her head lulled to the right, arms over her blanket and her mouth slightly open. The machines were saying she was stable and she hadn't really changed over the last four days, apart from her heart rate increasing and decreasing. I leant forward and rested my forehead on her hand.

'Please, Grace,' I mumbled.

Nothing.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Grace's POV**

I didn't know where I was.

I didn't know how I got here.

I was sat on the floor – cold and wet – and I tried to make sense of where I was but it didn't make sense. I was… why was in the middle of the woods?

There were a few big trees, but mainly loads of branches across the floor, thin twins and bushes, and there were strategical places lights going down the middle of the woods in a straight line. It was rather odd – I have never been to a wood that had lights in the middle of it. There was an off noise, a weird hushing noise that came and goes every second or so – I couldn't overwork it out. Perhaps I didn't need to work it out? I struggled to get up from the floor which I had been embedded in and went to investigate the lights on the floor.

There was eighteen of them – I counted as I stood at the first one that was closest to me and looked down at it. I tried to kick it, and it didn't move. It was covered with branches and shrubbery. Sighing, I bent down and tried to uncover the light with my hands, the branches moving with my pushes but every time I cleared a handful, they reappeared.

Not my fate, then.

I went across to the other, trying to dig it up but nothing. And the next one, and the next. All of them wouldn't allow me to dig any deeper. I stopped on my haunches and took a deep breath trying to work out what to do. I looked around but I appeared to be in the middle of darkness – it wouldn't be safe to venture out until it was light. But I felt like I hadn't moved all week. I was sore and drained. Perhaps it would never be light and I was stuck in this dark hell until I found a solution.

I took another deep breath and went to the next light on the floor – for the same thing to keep happening. Every time I cleared the light, ready to investigate what lied below the glass covering, nothing happened. It was almost like each of the eighteen lights had a different fate below it, a different reality, and something was guiding me to the one that I needed. That had to be it.

Focusing on the lights, I realised there was one that was slightly brighter than the rest. Not by much, but you could see its rays a lot clearer than the rest of the trees surrounding it. I ran over, stopping by the cover. I kicked away what I could and I heard a noise. It was beeping like it was counting down something.

 _This is the news at ten – our main story. Miss Williams, the fiancée to Prince Luke, is in hospital in a critical unstable condition with gunshot wounds to her chest. It is believed that Prince Luke and Grace Williams were found, alongside their three-month-old daughter Princess Lila two days ago. This information was provided in an official statement from Buckingham Palace earlier and does not contain any information as to where the future Princess is currently at._

I frowned – gunshot wounds to my chest? I quickly touched my chest and found nothing. I looked under my soaking shirt and there were no marks, no blemishes, nothing. They must have it wrong. That's the only explanation. I was dreaming.

I kept digging in the dirt and after about ten minutes of digging, the light was eventually uncovered. There was a clasp on the side. I quickly undid the clasp, and the entire circle lifted up, revealing a giant tunnel. I looked around, wondering what I should do – if I dropped into the tunnel there might be no end or I would hurt myself. But I couldn't just sit around in their weird woods.

I dropped myself into the tube and into the light gently.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

It was a struggle to open my eyes and everything hurt. My lungs felt like they were burning. My neck was stiff and lulled over to one side. Very briefly, I saw Luke on a chair beside me looking shit. Can I say that? In all fairness, he is my husband-to-be so I think I can. He looked tired, and skinny, and drained completely.

I then realised I couldn't breathe and started to choke on air. The second I started coughing Luke was awake and sitting on the bed beside me.

'Grace, Grace sweetheart, it's okay,' Luke said to me. 'Just focus on me, focus on me.' He repeated. 'Breath in deeply,' He said I frowned at him. 'You've hurt yourself and you're relearning how to breathe, you have an oxygen mask on but you have to try and calm down,' He told me quickly and I nodded. 'So breath in, focus on filling up your lungs,' I frowned and tried to do what he said even though it was harder than expected. He gently held my hand, smiling at me as I looked at him for more advice. 'Okay, now breathe out, try and get your lungs empty again, then breathe in,' He said and I obeyed him. Ha! I was breathing by myself.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, Luke gently telling me what to do and how to breath and I followed his commands until I was breathing on my own without really focusing on it. Then he leaned forward and kissed my forehead, tearing up in the process. I frowned at him.

'Don't ever do that to me again.' He mumbled to me.

'How are you?' I whispered, flinching against my sore throat but still needed to know answers. 'Is Lila okay? Is everyone okay? What's happened?' I asked him and he gently smiled.

'I'm fine, Grace, they got me out of there fine. Lila is also fine, missing her mummy but she's okay,' He leaned back and gestured to the travel cot that was in the corner of the room, and through the mesh, I could see Lila asleep. 'You got shot. You jumped in front of Lila's cot. You saved her life,' Luke whispered to me and I frowned.

'I did what?'

'Don't you remember?' Luke asked me and I shook my head. 'Mycelia took you down to her house when they started the mission to get me out of wherever we were. 'Edward found where you were, he came over when Mycelia went to the shops to pick up some nappies for Lila. He was pointing the gun at you. Mycelia came home, and they had issued her with a gun. She told him not to shoot you, and it was never his intentions to shoot you, Grace, Edward wanted to kill Lila.' His voice broke as he said that and he looked over to her cot. 'He shot his gun and you jumped in the way. The bullet hit you in your lung. You died twice. You've been unconscious all week. You were taken off the ventilator a couple days.' He whispered to me before leaning forward so our foreheads touched. 'You saved our daughters life,' He mumbled to me.

'Lila's okay?' I asked and he nodded.

'She is perfect,' Luke mumbled, playing with my hair. 'You need to focus on yourself,' He whispered, 'You will be in the hospital for a while, but they think you should make a full recovery,' He said.

'Have they caught Edward?' I mumbled and he just smiled awkwardly to at me.

'Don't worry about that,' He mumbled.

'What's happened to him?' I asked.

'Grace, don't worry,' He told me and he clearly looked uncomfortable and I just went along with it.

'Is everyone else… okay?' I asked. 'Mycelia – you said we were at her house, is she okay?'

'Er, she's good,' Luke asked.

'You…. You're a crap liar.' I told him and he sighed.

'I'll explain it fully when you are a bit more awake,' Luke said to me, kissing my forehead and I smiled gently. 'You are incredible, Grace. I cannot thank you enough for…'

'Stop that, you make it sound like I am dying,' I mumbled and he grinned. 'If it was the other way around, you would have done the same thing to save Lila.' He just smiled at me and nodded. 'So stop making it seem like it was some kind of heroic act,' I said as I yawned.

'Go back to sleep, Grace,' He said but was sharply interrupted by Lila starting to cry. He smiled and walked over to her travel cot where you could see she was kicking out against the blanket on top of her. Luke bent down and picked her up, holding her to his chest bouncing her around.

'Do you want to go and see Mummy, Lila?' Luke said softly and I grinned at him as he looked over to me shyly. 'You can't really hold her, though,' He mumbled shyly and he looked really upset, kissing the side Lila's head who continued to cry.

'Don't worry Luke,' I told him, but in reality, all I wanted to do was to hold my daughter and Luke at the same time. I knew it was impossible to do – I knew there was nothing I could do to convince Luke to let me sit up and let me hold my daughter. I knew I couldn't even hold her because I was too weak to even attempt to hold her, I knew it might hurt me even more than I was hurt right now. I tried to look down at where the bandage was on my chest and was mildly surprised to see a 5cm square sticky bandage over my lower right breast and that was it. I expected a hell of a lot more than a tiny square of unmarked cloth – I expected a massive bandage across my entire chest that was blood stained.

'Xav?' I asked, gently running my fingers over the mark and he nodded.

'Been spending a few hours with you a day religiously. Doctor's are very surprised how well you're healing. They expected you to be in the hospital for a few months, now you could only be in for another week or two. You'll be in rehabilitation and physiotherapy for a few months though, relearning how to breathe and so on. You'll be devastated to know you can't-do much exercise for a while,'

'God damn, there goes my life goals,' I joked as Luke hugged Lila. I could see him thinking.

'I could put her on your tummy?' Luke said and I thought about it for a while before nodding. 'That's if she stops crying, she's making it seem like I haven't been coping,' Luke mumbled before she rested Lila on top of me, and I immediately moved my arms around her, gently holding her back. She made a few gurgled before calming down, looking up at me.

'And you always said I was the natural parent,' Luke joked, shaking his head as Luke sat on the side of my bed, rubbing arm gently as Lila slowly fell asleep on my tummy.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

I must have fallen asleep a few hours after the nurse came to visit and check statistics and everything the day I first woke up, as when I came back around for the second time I was sitting up in the hospital bed, and the room was awash with colour – balloons and cards decorated every single surface and the room always had more than Luke and Lila in; Jack, Markie, Crystal, Xav, Caroline and Theo were all around me.

'It's like a party in here,' I joked and they all smiled at me, speaking together. And then they all stopped at once, before one by one they told me to get better soon and all the usual rubbish you'd expect people to say to you before Luke told me the good news; if I continued this rate of healing and increased the amount I was remaining conscious, I would be able to leave the hospital by the end of the week, although I wouldn't be back to my normal self for a while after. But at least it meant I could almost, in a way, be back to a normal routine at home, with Luke and Lila, rather than in a hospital with nurses and everyone else buzzing around.

Rehabilitation started the second I could sit up properly. Luke helped me pivot myself so my legs were on the side of the bed before he gently supported me enough that I could stand up – but even that took a lot out of my lungs. When all the visitors left for the night, I begged Luke to let me go for a walk around our room, and sure enough, after a while of pestering, he let me. He gently held my waist with one arm, and the top of my other arm with the other hand, holding me up as everything felt weak, but I managed to do it. A few days later, and a few walks up and down the ward under my belt, the physiotherapist took me to a deserted staircase at the other end of the building and told me to very slowly walk up and down the stairs – to which I jogged up to them and caused Luke to tell me off. But the physiotherapist, whilst annoyed, was shocked at how well I was recovering too. She gave me a sheet of things to do, arranged another physiotherapist to come around Buckingham Palace where we were staying for another two weeks to keep an eye on me and signed me off for discharge.

The night before my discharge date I was sitting up on my bed, holding Lila close to me as she fed on a bottle – holding it herself even though it made me cry how grown up she was getting – and I watched the news. The news managed to get a scary amount of detail on what had happened and somehow had reported that I was being discharged from the hospital I was at in central London tomorrow morning. They reported the gunshot wound had managed to heal themselves well on my chest but made no comment as to how I got the wounds. I frowned – I knew Edward had shot me but Luke never told me about what had happened to Edward. Sara had come to visit me countless times, each time bringing clothes for me and Lila, cuddly toys and sweets. But Mycelia had yet to visit.

'Luke,' I asked and he looked over at me from the sofa on the other side of the room, where he was on his netbook trying to reply to countless emails. 'You never told me what happened to Luke and Mycelia,' I said and he frowned, closing the netbook. 'Oh, it's serious?' I asked and he nodded, coming over to the chair next to me.

'Right, this will come as a surprise but don't panic, okay? Everything is okay,' He told me and I frowned before nodding. He hesitated. 'Okay, so security services had given Mycelia a gun in case something would happen to you when you went over to hers, in case someone would break in or something,'

'Right,' I said, remembering her pointing a gun at Edward. Oh – oh, I might have just worked it out.

'When Edward fired his gun at you, Mycelia fired the gun at him, she was only going for his abdomen like she was told to do, but jumped when she heard his gun went off.'

'Where did it hit?' I asked.

'Back of his neck,' Luke said and I pulled a face. 'Instant kill, yeah,' He said.

'I am so sorry, Luke,' I whispered – his father had been killed.

'I should be sad about it, my father was killed, but I don't care. Everyone said it was because I had some much going on with you and I had to look after Lila, but I realised when you woke up that I just didn't care. He wasn't my father the second he left home, and he was dead to me when he kidnapped us.' Luke told me.

'Promise me you're okay?' I asked him and he nodded.

'You'd be the first person I would tell if I wasn't,' He mumbled to me. 'Mycelia was arrested for murder, said it was in self-defence. It was up to Mum if she wanted to press charges as it is technically Mum's systems of prisons, probate, court, you know how it's always HM Crown Court and so on. Mum wanted you to make the call whether to charge Mycelia or not,'

'Of course, I don't want to charge Mycelia.' I said simply and Luke nodded.

'Good call, I'll tell Mum to get her released,' Luke said, kissing my forehead.

The next day rolled around, and by midday, I was up and dressed in a navy and white summer tea dress which stopped just above my knee. The bandage had been changed and Luke given the instructions on how to change it at home. All our clothes were packed into bags and handed to security staff who had already taken them back to Buckingham Palace to Luke's suite where we must stay for a while until the entirety of Edward's camp was torn down and the leading members and suppliers were taken down. All we had were Lila's bag of stuff she might potentially need, and that was across Luke's shoulder. I waited with Lila sitting on my lap, giggling to herself as she watched me. We sat on chairs near the entrance and I could see the media outside.

'Kids, not gonna lie, I'm getting déjà vu,' Liam said, coming up from behind me and making both of us drop.

'You don't even believe in that,' Luke replied.

'Okay, good point,' Liam said, plopping himself in the seat next to me.

'When did you get here?' I asked him.

'I finished my shift two hours ago and came straight here to give you the moral support a future Princess will need,' Liam told me, winking at me.

'He's trying to become best man, Grace, ignore him,' Luke said beside me on his phone.

'Would I ever?' He mocked and Luke just nodded.

'You're cunning, Liam,' was all Luke said back and Liam flashed a smile in my direction.

'Perhaps I just wanted to see adorable Lila,' Liam said, gently touching her cheek causing her to laugh again and he grinned. 'I want my kids to be this age again, don't let her grow up, Grace, it gets so much louder when they can speak,'

'Your Highness, Miss Williams, your car is outside waiting for you,' A security bloke came up to us and told us, and Luke jumped up and helped me up.

'I'll meet you at yours, then,' Liam said, before walking out the entrance and there was flashing lights.

'I wasn't gonna tell him, but I also have massive déjà vu from when she was born.' Luke said, holding me to his side, gently rubbing Lila's side in the process as she laughed. She was holding onto a toy duck she had got from somewhere. 'You ready?'

'I'm always ready,' I mocked him.

Together, we both walked out of the door and the cameras started flashing. Lila, loving flashing lights, started laughing to herself again and waving her toy duck around and I grinned too. Luke bent down to whisper something in my ear about speaking to journalists and I nodded, and he walked straight down the stairs and over to the same news reporter he went too after Lila's birth – one of the biggest news broadcasters in England.

'Hiya,' Luke said softly, still holding me by my side. The lady he was speaking to was in her late twenties or early thirties, blonde hair tied up in a tight ponytail and a very neat, crisp suit. There was a lady beside her, mid-twenties (if that) and had a bit less formal clothing on, with brown curly hair and a light brown colouring to her eyes. She smiled at us but didn't appear to notice I was looking.

'Hello your Royal Highness, may I ask some questions today?'

'Of course, Lucy, who's your friend?' Luke asked and I elbowed him for being a bit of an asshole.

'This is Ellie, she's a trainee reporter,' Lucy said to one side away from the camera's mic, which the second Lila saw it she was trying to grab it. 'How have you both been recovering from your traumatic ordeals?' Lucy asked Luke, not me.

'Er, we've been fine,' Luke said, frowning.

'Grace, it must have been a very traumatic time for you, how did you manage after you were shot?' She asked me and I frowned.

'I passed out?' I said and I heard some journalists laugh. Was she okay?

'Why didn't you try and stop the bullet?'

'Because, last time I checked, I wasn't bulletproof. Not much you can do when a bullet is coming towards you if you're not The Flash,' I said to more laughter.

'Come on, Grace,' Luke huffed, pulling me to the car. This car had no driver, so I bent down to buckle Lila into the car seat at the back before sliding in next to her car seat, making sure she had her ducky with her and she happily laughed as I made the duck fly around. Luke got in a few seconds later, doing his seatbelt and starting the car.

'What has got into her?' I asked Luke as he put the car into first and crawled into the street, police cars in front of us putting their lights on. Besides us, I saw a police motorcycle as well.

'Theo told me a few hours before we left – it's her last day. She's got fired for digging for a good story whilst you were kidnapped. She got promoted to Royal editor of like this news section that's more aimed at the younger generations, like thirty under. Of course, she's not very down with the kids, as you could probably tell, and she knew she was going under so she was trying to find news stories about you to get people to slag you off, basically,'

'Bitch,' I whispered.

'Yeah, correct. Mum wasn't having any of it, and she basically got fired as of your release date from the hospital and only had time to train up the person taking her job – that Ellie kid. This is her last ditch to make you look bad, I guess. It didn't work. You smashed it,' Luke laughed.

'How are you both back there?'

'I'm completely fine, I don't really know what the fuss was about, I feel fine,' I told Luke and he nodded. 'Lila is half asleep,' I said, gently rubbing her chubby cheek as her eyes were half closed, her duck being held close to her. I grinned at her.

'My gorgeous girls,' Luke said with a shy smile as we headed down the roads of London to Buckingham Palace. It was only a ten-minute journey, and we were chatting the entire time. We had to wait for a few minutes when the gate was cleared to open and we were allowed straight into the turning circle in the Palace, where I saw Caroline and Theo waiting. I got out the car when we stopped as Luke went around to take out Lila and her car seat, as it was a car seat I didn't recognise and Caroline came straight over, hugging me close.

'Welcome home,' She whispered to me and I blushed.

I knew that, despite how much my life had been turned upside down – and then some – in the last three years, that I finally had a new place to call home.

 **THE END**

 **/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\**

 **I'm so sad for this to end! I feel like Grace and Luke were a part of me, as was little Lila, but I couldn't drag it out for much longer.**

 **So I've started the second book, focusing on Theo has been put up. It's called Hunting Ellie. It'll still have Grace, Lila and Luke all there and so on so, it's definitely worth a read! I know the first chapter isn't the best, but I promise I have big plans for it!**

 **I would like to thank every single one of you who have read this and lived vicariously with the characters and reviewed each time. You guys have made me happy and made this my sole reason to recover.**

 **Thank you!**


	51. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

 **Three years later**

'Lila, come here sweetheart.' I called gently into the other room.

It was the night before my wedding. Lila and I were sharing a room in an expensive hotel just North of Windsor, around forty-five-minute drive away from Westminster Abbey, where I would marry Luke. The hotel has been completely cordoned off and the only senior staff was working, and the rooms were booked out with people in my bridal party. My brother was three rooms down. His husband, Markie, was staying someone a bit closer to London. Crystal, Sky, and Phee were staying on the floor above all spaced out, along with three of Luke's cousins who I secretly didn't like but had to do it to please the Royalists in the country.

Luke had visited myself and Lila in the hotel room around two hours ago, bringing us all take-out, somewhat of a normality for myself and Luke, but a treat for Lila, and said his final goodbyes to me as a non-married couple before hugging Lila. He left me a present and a card to open tomorrow morning. I knew we would have to be up at around half five in the morning tomorrow to start getting ready and I was secretly hating the tradition of Royal weddings to start at midday. I took a deep breath as I looked at the dress bag hanging up on the wall.

The situation I had was unique; I knew I wanted to marry Luke – that was very clear. I love him so much and I was so very excited to spend the rest of our lives together and meet him down the end of that aisle. However, I was shitting myself about the whole media situation. The cameras that would be on me from the second I left this hotel to the second we arrived at Buckingham Palace after the ceremony which would be broadcast live to near enough every country in the World. Everyone would be scrutinising me; the dress I wore, the shoes I wore, how I got out the car, how I met Luke, how I said my vows, how my dress sat after, how I walked – everything. The only silver lining I had was Ellie. Theo's new girlfriend worked in a big media company had been drafted in with her manager who acted as a father to her to do a live feed of the media. I had really started to like Ellie, considered her as one of the best friends, and I knew Theo and Ellie would continue to stay together and this could, one day, be their future.

Lila wandered over to me. She had just had a bath as I sat beside her and washed her hair and I had put her in her dressing gown. Lila was just getting changed into her pyjamas I had got her; a cute top that had "bride tribe" on the front and some shorts. Lila didn't quite understand what was happening tomorrow, but she seemed very excited nonetheless. I tapped the bed beside me and she awkwardly clambered up. I grabbed the brush beside me and a hair band.

'Mummy are you nervous?' Lila asked and I gently brushed her hair gently.

'A little bit, yeah.' I whispered to her.

'Why? Daddy is your Prince.' Lila whispered, and I laughed gently.

'You've read too many books.' I told her as I plaited her hair. 'No, it's normal to be nervous before your wedding day.'

'But you will look beautiful and, and, and, Daddy will love you!' Lila told me as I tied her hair up. Lila then turned around and smiled at me and my heart faulted. I could see myself in her; whenever I saw photos of myself as a baby, I could easily confuse myself with Lila. I never thought I could love someone so much as your own child. I was so scared and so hesitant to have a child so young, but I would never change anything. Photos of Lila and myself at the same age were identical but I could see Luke in her. There was no doubt Luke was her father, but I was still amazed at how much a child could show their fathers personality; Lila was so happy and kind and always wanted to help people – exactly like Luke.

'Come here.' I said, holding my arms out. Lila then jumped at me and knocked me back as I hugged her.

'When am I going to Disneyland?' Lila asked after a while and I laughed; Luke and I decided to have a private honeymoon in a private villa somewhere where Luke planned for a week – just us two – before we would head back to England to pick up Lila before we would head to Disneyland in America for a week. Luke and I had quietly discussed the possibility of having another child. Lila was due to start preschool in a few months times, and I really missed babying Lila. I used to carry her around everywhere, hold her to my chest, feed her always. I just wanted that again. And I think it would do a World of good for Lila to have a sibling. We had gone to a clinic a few weeks ago and they confirmed I was still able to have children after the whole surgery with Lila, but it could just take longer. So, we decided I would stop taking the pill a few weeks ago, finish my period and try from there on in, and when it happens, it happens.

'In just over a week's time.' I explained. 'Sunday we'll go back home, and Monday, Daddy and I will go on a holiday until next Sunday and you will stay with Nanny and Uncle Theo.' I said.

'And Auntie Ellie!'

'Yes, and Auntie Ellie too.' I said and Lila grinned – it was incredible how close Lila had become with Ellie. 'Daddy and I will come back on next Sunday morning, we will pick you up and we will then go to Disneyland and we will get you a toy if you fall asleep on the plane.' I explained, trying to bribe Lila early to sleep on the plane. I checked the clock on the bedside cabinet – it was just past eight. 'Shall we get ready for bed then?'

So, Lila and I brushed our teeth, washed our faces and I took the fertility vitamin I had been taking for over 2 months now. I got changed into my pyjamas – saying "bride to be" across the front and got into the double bed with Lila. It didn't take long for my daughter to be sparko beside me, fast asleep in my arm.

I pulled out my phone and checked the news; sure enough, the wedding already was centre news. At the moment, the article said that both Luke and I had met for the last time and headed to different places; an image showed Lila and me in the car arriving at the hotel, and Luke and Theo arriving at Buckingham Palace after meeting us. At the same time, they mentioned how many people were already lining the procession route, wearing Union Jack-print jackets and dresses, holding giant flags. My stomach twisted already.

A messaged pop through from Luke.

 _"_ _ **Technically**_ _not the day of our wedding so I can still message you, right?"_ I smiled slightly as I replied slightly awkwardly.

 _"I mean, that makes sense. Did you get to the Palace okay?"_ I replied as I put the phone down to cover Lils with the duvet before I kissed her cheek.

 _"Perfect. How are you holding up? And Lila? Is she okay?"_ Luke replied near enough immediately. I took a photo of Lila asleep on my arm.

 _"I mean, I will end up with a dead arm but she's already asleep. She asked about Disneyland again and said you're my Prince – so we need to stop reading her cliché fairy tales. I'm okay – have you seen how many people are already waiting for us?"_ I replied as I looked at the television.

 _"They're not waiting for me, bubs, they're used to me. They're waiting for you. They're waiting to see how beautiful you are. Now, you, my beautiful girl, you need to head to bed. You have to be up early – alarm clock Lila will wake you up before the sun is up."_ I blushed at Luke's words.

 _"I am terrified."_ I simply replied.

 _"Don't be. You will be beautiful, more than you already are. I will be at the end of the aisle waiting for you to walk down with Jack. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or says. This time tomorrow, you will be my wife. I will love you forever. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, with our Lila and any other children we have together. I want to be with you until the day I die. We can't do personal vows tomorrow, but you changed my life. You gave my life a purpose, a reason to wake up each day. A reason to get out of bed. Hands down, you are the best person to ever appear on this planet and I love you more than words could ever encapsulate. So, now you're going to go to bed, you're gonna sleep. Tomorrow you will wake up, you will get changed into what I no doubt will be a beautiful dress, you will get your hair done and you will meet me at the aisle at midday, and we can start the rest of our lives as husband and wife. Now. Don't reply to this, get your ass to sleep. Look after yourself."_ I blushed massively.

 _"I love you,"_ I replied, and Luke immediately replied.

 _"I said don't reply! But I love you too – don't reply to this now. I mean it this time"._ I laughed before I put my phone on charge and curled up to Lila and eventually, fell asleep.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Luke's POV**

I jumped awake after I heard the door to my bedroom close. A few seconds later, someone jumped down on my bed and I frowned. Grace and Lila were in a hotel around forty-five minutes away, and I knew at midnight, Jack went into her hotel room and stole her phone so we wouldn't talk on our wedding day. I opened my eyes and checked the clock on the bedside table; 4:22 am.

And then I remembered it was my wedding day. Simultaneously, I was excited and so nervous. I was used to the cameras and the media and the crowds but this would be something completely different. There would be hundreds upon hundreds of cameras, the wedding would be displayed all over the world live. But I was more excited that by this time tonight, Grace would be my wife. In seven and a half hours, I'll be waiting at the bottom of the aisle for her to come and meet me, for us to say our vowels, and start out lives together as a married couple. I know, though, she will be beautiful. I had only seen her scrubbed up for Royal events, and each time I was speechless. I know she would be asleep by now, with our daughter in her arms, and I knew they would get up at around six when Lila wakes up. Jack would let me call Lila before I leave the Palace to head to Westminster Abbey – where we would get married.

And then it hit me; if Grace and Lila were in Windsor, who was laying next to me. I looked over.

'Hi, Theodore.' I said to my older brother who, for some reason, had laid down in the bed next to me in just a pair of shorts. He was looking up at the ceiling.

'Hi, Luke.' He replied back.

'Why are you in my bed?'

'Oh right, yeah, my bad.' Theo simply said but he didn't move. 'I totally knew this was your place, by the way, I'm just pretending. I promised Grace you would be okay. So here I am.' Theo said, throwing his arms out and hitting me in my chest. I laughed.

'Talking of partners, guessing you've just dropped Ellie off?' I said and looked at him and Theo nodded but he bit his lip. I knew he felt slightly guilty that his girlfriend was reporting my wedding. 'You know that neither I nor Grace cares that Ellie's reporting the wedding.'

'I dropped her off and told her I love her.' Theo said as I sat bolt upright.

'YOU WHAT.' I shouted.

'Shh, it's your wedding day.' Theo joked. I laid back down. 'I told her I love her. She panicked.'

'So did Grace though. We practically broke up before I told her I loved her for the first time, remember?' I said and Theo nodded. 'Ellie loves you too, she just needs some time. She's not as seasoned as you are when it comes to partners.' I joked and I got the look from him.

'Really? Seasoned? I am nowhere near as bad as you are.' Theo joked.

'Have we forgotten that I am getting _married_ today? I have a daughter. I am the definition of committed.' I joked. 'But seriously, give Ellie some time to label what she's feeling. We both know it will work. Mum knows it will work.' I was referring to Mum's premonition – she had seen Ellie at some point in the future with an engagement ring on, but the premonition was very blurry and we knew it could be a while away – probably a few years.

'Fine, yeah, I guess you're right.' Theo said.

'She's had a rough past. She will take longer than "standard" people to adapt and to understand things. You have to give her some time, she will get there and give it some time, and we can do this on your wedding morning.' I joked, and Theo smiled.

'You need to get some more beauty sleep, you're looking rough pretty boy.' Theo joked and I smiled. I had become increasingly concerned about Theo before he found Ellie; he became quiet and awkward and he never really left the Palace. He was becoming very recluse. It was clear he wanted me and Grace had – he wanted a close relationship, his other half, someone he could trust and be so close too. When he called over Crystal to find his Soulfinder over three years ago – when Lila was born – Crystal told Theo she couldn't find his Soulfinder, that she was unavailable. Since then, he just kinda got depressed. But since he found Ellie, despite only being together for a few weeks, he was a new person. Theo was happy, bubbly, joking around happily not giving a shit, he was laughing. It was almost like he was eighteen again.

'Yes, fine.' I laughed. I rolled over and closed my eyes.

'I can be the big spoon if you want.' Theo joked as I rolled my eyes.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Grace's POV**

'Mummy, you're getting married today!' Lila shouted as I just about woke up and I laughed. I opened my eyes to see Lila, still in her pyjamas, before she jumped up and started jumping on the bed. 'You're getting married mummy!' She shouted again as I sat up and caught her before looking at the clock – 6:57 am, three minutes before my alarm.

'You need to calm down, Lils.' I whispered to her as I hugged her. 'But yeah, I'm getting married today.' I said nervously, my stomach twitched. I turned around to check if my phone was on charge, and sure enough, it was missing – I told Jack to sneak in and take my phone, so I couldn't talk to Luke on our wedding day – tradition, I guess. I knew Jack and my cousins would come soon to help me get ready, we agreed around quarter past seven, before the makeup teams and the beauticians and everyone else came.

'Can you promise me you'll be a good girl today?' I asked as I sat her up on the bed as I got up, walking over to the fridge and finding a bottle of milk in there. I poured a small amount into a cup and gave it to my daughter. Lila took it and took a sip as she nodded. 'It will be a long morning and there will be a lot of standing in the church, Uncle Theo and Uncle Jack will look after you, and then when we get back to Nanny's and we can let you have a nap.' I explained to Lila as I sat down next to her as I put my arm around her.

'Ya.' Lila said in between sips. 'When do I see Daddy?' Lila asked me and I frowned.

'You'll see Daddy when I do, but he will call you this morning and talk to you.' I explained to Lila and she nodded. The door to my room opened and I turned around. Jack ran over to me and hugged me so hard that I fell backwards.

'You're getting married!' He shouted as he pulled me up.

'I know, Jack, calm down.' I laughed.

'No, no I won't calm down! You're getting MARRIED!' Jack said as he hugged me to his side, grinning at Lila. 'My little sister is finally getting married! It's past time.' Jack laughed as he sat next to Lila. I saw Alison, my friend and amazing photographer for both Luke and Theo come in checking her camera before smiling at me; she must have caught the whole Jack launching himself on me on camera.

'We just wanted Lila to be old enough to remember some of it.' I told him – even though I knew Lila wouldn't be old enough to remember any of it; she had only just turned three and proper memories cannot be formed until around five. But, nonetheless, she would still look adorable and the whole thing would be recorded so at least she could look back on her part.

'I don't want to concern you two, but have you seen the crowds outside?' Alison asked and I shook my head. She turned on the TV onto the news and my heart dropped. The news reporter was standing outside Westminster Abbey where the last final flowers were being placed around the entrance, and I could see hundreds upon hundreds of people waiting near barricades. The footage cut to an aerial shot where I could see the route I would arrive down, and the route leading to Buckingham Palace, was already packed with people – and it had only just turned seven in the morning. Let alone what it would be like by midday.

'Oh God.' I whispered.

'Theo was talking to me earlier – they've extended the route you'd be taking back to Buckingham to Code 2.' I thankfully remembered the security training we had for this event; if no one turned up (which was my hope) we could have a very short 5 minute ride back to the Palace and it would be fine. That was Code 5. It had been changed to a Code 3 yesterday when they got a surge in rail tickets into the zones of the wedding procession. Code 2 meant a fifteen-minute journey back to the Palace in an open-top carriage. Whilst I was in a wedding dress nervous. It makes things worse that I decided not to drink to try and increase chances of baby number 2 happening further on down the line. Could have killed for a glass of bubbles to calm my nerves.

Crystal, Sky and Phee all appeared at the same time in matching pyjamas and before they went to celebrate they caught the look of my face and looked at the TV.

'Oh, so only the entire of the EU turned up for your wedding.' Crystal said, coming over and hugging me as I grinned slightly. 'Could be worse, could be the _commonwealth_ or the UN. You have to be thankful it's just the EU.'

'To the EU.' Sky toasted with the champagne flute she had in her hand.

'Well, this is a very odd way to start a wedding morning, isn't it?' Phee laughed and Jack nodded.

'Yeah, no, weddings always start with toasting the EU. Didn't you do that on your wedding day?' Jack laughed as he pulled out some croissants and some butter and jam. Lila's face lit up and as she grabbed one, the beauticians appeared around the corner with fake smiles on their face. I knew then it would be a long and tiring morning.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Unfortunately, I was correct. It has been a long morning. The beauticians immediately ordered the girls to all have showers before they came back into the room. I had to argue with the lead beautician who believed my three-year-old daughter should have to make up on for the wedding – whilst I completely opposed. In the end, I had to put my foot down and refuse for them to go near Lila. Crystal ended up placing her in her flower girl dress; a beautiful full-length white dress with a gorgeous lace flowery overflow on top. Hairstylists helped Jack before he got changed into tails and looked incredibly dapper before he took Lila into his room to phone Luke.

I had been keeping an eye on Ellie's live steam of the wedding she was doing on a tablet. She was keeping me updated on the number of people streaming her live stream as well as wedding footage and keeping me calm from miles away. However, I had to say goodbye to her around 90 minutes before I had to leave. I had already been waxed everywhere and moisturised perfectly, my tan had been equalled out only slightly where I had decided to wear camisoles in the heatwave the summer previous. Eventually, I was pulled into a room alone with just Jack and the makeup artist. We had agreed previously to go for a subtle makeup; even out the skin tone and emphasise my eyes and cheeks with minimal makeup. But even that look would take a skilled artist the best part of an hour. My hair was already half done up as we had agreed; two small hair plaits meeting at the back before flowing into a waterfall down style with curls, the vail able to sit just above the plaits. My nails had already been done in a classic French manicure.

'How are you feeling?' Jack asked me sitting on the bed behind my Pedi stool. I could see him in the mirror.

'About what part?' I asked.

'Marrying Luke.'

'Completely fine. I don't care about that – no, well, I do. I know I want to marry him and I am so excited to be his wife after three years of constant planning. I am completely fine about him, and joining his family.'

'What about all of this.' Jack gestured to the television which still droned on. It now began to show people entering Westminster Abbey; old friends I spoke to seven or eight times a year arrived, celebrities I had met only at benefits or charity events rolled up. I knew there were strict times for everyone to arrive and I knew a good fifteen minutes were set aside for my family to arrive. All of them had RSPV'd which meant a good seventy odd family members would be escorted to the front doors in ten minutes time. I knew most were staying in London and for the sake of ease, the organisers of the wedding have just booked out loads of cars to ferry them all, so at least they'd arrive at the same time. After my family, Luke's family would arrive. And then Luke and Theo. And then the bridesmaids, and then me.

Oh, God.

'Terrifies me. I'm no good speaking or being natural, it's not me. I'm awful with words and I'm clumsy. What if I fall? What if I say the wrong thing? I know it's unlikely, we have rehearsed it for what seems like hours, but what if I forget? It will be recorded forever, Jack. Forever.'

'You won't. I will be there with you. You are wearing flats down the aisle so you won't fall and if you do, I will be there to hold you up. And then Luke will take over from me. The Holy Man will tell you what to say, so you just repeat what he says. At the end of the day, all that matters is you and Luke, and whether one of you does a runner or not.' Jack said and I grinned as the make up women brushed my cheek with some incredibly soft brush.

'I don't plan on doing a runner. I don't think I can even get out of this hotel.' I laughed. I kept anxiously watching the television as the Abbey kept filling up.

'I think we're just about done with her makeup, we just need to let it set for five minutes. I'll give you two a minute.' The makeup artist said before she sprayed my face with something before she left the room. I looked at Jack and he smiled at me.

'Mum and Dad would be so proud of you, Grace.' Jack told me and I took a staggered breath. 'They really would have, they always wanted to see you get married and settle down but still be the independent kick ass you are.' I teared us as I looked down the floor. 'Nonna told me to give this to you.' Jack said, pulling out a box from a bag. Inside was an absolutely beautiful necklace; a teardrop crystal on a long, elegant chain. 'Mum wore it when she got married. She kept it aside – she wanted it to be your something old. I've already cleared it with the Palace, you're not meant to wear necklaces but they've made an exception. Let me put it on.' Jack said softly as he put it over my neck before clasping it up.

'I don't know what to say.' I said, choking back tears.

'Nor do I.' Jack said before he gently touched my arm. 'You look absolutely beautiful. Luke is a very lucky guy. If he hurts you, I will have serious words with him.'

'Jack, you know Luke won't ever hurt me.'

'I know he won't, but I didn't know what else to say.' Jack said and I smiled. 'Can I see your wedding dress now?' Jack said and I smiled before I nodded. I hadn't shown my dress to anyone yet; only the designer knew what the dress looked like – I had to keep it secret until today.

'Come on then.' I said, showing him into the giant walk-in wardrobe the hotel room had where the dress was left out to hang. I opened the door and heard him gasp. The dress I had chose was a sweetheart neckline but had floral lace high on the chest – the dress gathered around the waist and flowed out down to the bottom. On top of that, I had a cathedral-length veil with gems on the end. The detailing was amazing; there were little gems all over the bodice and on the lacing.

'Woah.' Jack said and I bit my lip.

'Do you like it?'

'I love it, Grace, it is absolutely beautiful.' Jack said and I took a breath, relieved at least my brother liked it. 'You'll look brilliant in it.'

I nervously played with my arm. I didn't want the dress designer to put it on me – it seemed too impersonal. I wanted at least my cousins to help me, but they weren't allowed to see the dress until we left the building in case of any leaks- not that they would. But as Jack was going in the same car as me, he could.

'Do you want me to help you get changed, sis?' Jack said sweetly to me, having read my thoughts. I nodded as I teared up, very nearly crying, and Jack hugged me. 'Won't be weird, will it?' Jack asked.

'Nope, have to wear this weird body thing under, like a tankini thing.' I said and Jack nodded.

'That's fine then! Come on then, shall we get you dressed?' Jack said.

It only took twenty minutes for Jack to help me get dressed; he held the dress as I stepped into it and he did the corset up for me, and the buttons on the lace on the top of the dress. He took a step back and teared up.

'Wow, Grace.' Jack said to me as he covered his mouth.

'I hope that's a good wow.' I said nervously. I had just watched all of my family turn up at Westminster, filing in one at a time and now Luke's extended family were rocking up. I also had just heard that Luke and Theo had just left Buckingham Palace and were on the way to the Abbey.

'Oh, it's a good wow.' Jack laughed as he sat down on the bed.

'Mummy!' I heard Lila say and I turned around. Lila ran through the door before she stopped and gasped. 'Mummy's a princess.' Lila whispered and Crystal came around the door before she stopped.

'Holy… wow, Grace.' Crystal said as she came over and hugged me. 'Like, holy wow, just, Jesus you scrub up so well.'

'Mummy, you look like a princess. Daddy will like you.' Lila said as she hugged her ducky.

'Did you phone Daddy?' I asked Lila as I squatted down to her, hugging her softly.

'Ya, he asked if you were okay.' Lila said before she came over to me.

'I am okay, Lila. Shall we go and see Daddy now?' I whispered to her and she nodded as I kissed her forehead.

'Ya!' Lila shouted as she got excited.

'Is everyone ready to go?' I asked before I looked up at Crystal in her bridesmaid dress; a long, subtle blue colour dress. 'Holy…' I looked down at Lila realising that I couldn't swear. 'Holy Wow you look good.' I said and she smiled.

'All of the girls are ready, Sky and Phee have been ready for the last hour easy, I dunno what the three muster-snooties are doing, but we can leave them behind right?' Crystal laughed.

'I wish.' I laughed as I stood up.

'Luke just text me, he's ten minutes away from Westminster Abbey now, and he says he can't wait to see you.' Jack said and I smiled.

'Let me guess – also asked if Grace had done a runner?'

'Yep.' Jack laughed.

'Right, let's get moving then, we need to get you married.' Crystal said. 'M'lady, let's go.' With that, Crystal gently took my arm as Jack followed me out the room, locking the door behind us. I took a deep breath before I stopped.

'Mummy, come on, Daddy will be waiting for you!' Lila said, obviously getting fed up with the amount of stalling I was doing. I looked down at my daughter, who was standing next to me looking up at me with her big, blue eyes – the eyes she clearly got from Luke – and I smiled down to her. Even though I didn't want to leave, I knew the second I saw her, that this is what I wanted. I wanted that happy family, and even though we were perfectly happy without being married, marriage would be the icing on the cake. Luke would be my _husband._

'Come on then.' I said, holding my hand out to her as we walked down the corridors heading outside. We managed to make it outside – Luke's cousins were already in a car ready to leave in a moment without even saying anything to me. A dress designer was due to ride 2 cars ahead of me to help settle the dress when we get to the Abbey, and she immediately came over and started adjusting the dress before putting in the veil in my hair.

'Remember to smile, beautiful girl, don't look too scared.' The designer said to me, gently touching my arm. The designer wasn't well known and the vast majority of her profits went to supporting LGBTQ+ youths in troubled areas in Great Britain. I had chosen her based on her previous work and the whole profit situation – and we had sat down and designed the dress together, her changing my ideas to fit the whole Royal scheme before Caroline and approved it – but no one had seen it in the fabric apart from me and the designer.

'Thank you.' I whispered to her.

'We need to start making a move. Luke has arrived at the cathedral already.' Security said to me and I must have panicked as the security guard immediately added. 'He hasn't done a runner, so nor can you.'

'Come on then, we need to get her in the car before she can do a runner.' Jack said, taking Lila's hand and showing her to the other side of the Bentley that had arrived for me. The designer folded up my veil, helping me in the car before tucking the veil behind my back. Lila was in her car seat by the other window. Jack was sitting in the front with the chauffeur. The second the door closed, the car had started to move.

'Oh god.' I said and Jack turned around in his chair.

'None of that, we're heading to a massive church.' Jack said as we left the gates of the hotel and I immediately grinned, the press taking photos of myself in the car – the first look at myself and the wedding dress.

'Mummy… I like that dress.' Lila said. 'You can wear it all the time.' I laughed.

'Not entirely sure that's how wedding dresses works, Liloo.' Jack laughed.

'Sure it is.' Lila said as she looked out the window. I took a brief look out the window, seeing pavements lined with people and police already. I then checked the clock – 11:41. Less than half an hour to go. Instead of panicking, I simply leant across and held Lila's hand. My daughter, not even questioning it, squeezed my hand back.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Thankfully, the wedding went perfectly.

The second I saw the Abbey in the distance, I calmed down. I knew I wanted to marry Luke, and instead of horrendous nerves, I was excited. The car had pulled up to the front of the Abbey. The designer was standing outside my car, and Jack immediately got out the car and got Lila out, before coming over to my side of the car and giving me a handout. I heard cameras snapping and smiled slightly as the designer told me to take a few steps forward as she straightened out the small train of the dress and the veil. I knelt down quickly and spoke to Lila, explaining to her again that she was going to hold my flowers at the end. I kissed her softly on the cheek as she lunged forward and hugged me. I heard a loud collective "aww" from everyone standing outside as I stood back up again. The holy man came up to me, saying a quick few words to me before asking if I was ready. I nodded – I was ready.

So Jack walked me down the aisle, past all my family and friends. I saw Luke and Theo standing down the end of the aisle as Theo looked at me before looking at Luke and saying " _wow"_ as he smiled at me. I shyly smiled back before Luke was given the nod to turn around. His face was a picture; his mouth dropped slightly as he saw me before he smiled slowly at me – his face shining with pride. I eventually got to him, stood by his side as he gently said "you look amazing" before bending down and hugging Lila, telling her to stand next to Theo.

The ceremony went past in a flash, and when someone Luke knew did some kind of speech, he sat there and held my hand, gently rubbing circles to calm me down as he knew how nervous I was. Eventually, the priest said we were now officially husband and wife and we were taken away into a room to sign the marriage paperwork or something. Luke took my hand before guiding me down the hidden corridors to a small room.

'I'll leave you two alone for a minute.' The priest said before he left the room. Luke immediately hugged me and kissed my forehead.

'Holy shit, Grace, you look bloody amazing.' Luke said. 'If I could frame you and keep you forever like this, I would. You scrub up amazingly.'

'You're not too bad yourself.' I laughed. He was in his service uniform, looking extremely handsome. Someone had even done his hair, but you could tell in the car on the way here he must have fluffed it back up again, as it sat in place but still had its fluffy charm to it. He smiled back at me and shook his head.

'Your dress is amazing, though.' He said, gently running his hand down the lace detailing of the bodice.

'None of that.' I said and he rolled his eyes.

'I was admiring the detailing. That's for later.' Luke said and I smiled at him and shook my head. He gently looked down at me before we met for a kiss – our first one as husband and wife. I smiled gently into the kiss. He eventually pulled away.

'We aren't meant to do that until we're at the Palace.' Luke said and I rolled my eyes before he gently kissed me again. 'How did you sleep last night?'

'I was fine.' I said and Luke gave me a funny look. 'No, seriously, after your text I fell asleep and Lila woke me up at seven – how did you sleep?'

'Theo woke me up at half four.' Luke laughed and I frowned at him. 'He said you told him to keep an eye on me so when he dropped off Ellie, he came back into my room, and spooned me. I know people always said I changed when I met you, and I was so much happier – but seeing how Ellie changed Theo.'

'They are amazing together. I've never seen Theo this happy.'

'How has Lila been for you?' Luke asked me, changing the subjects.

'Very excited. I think she missed you. But she's been pretty good to be fair, she's getting a bit tired now though. But she's been an angel as always.' Luke pulled me in tighter, swaying me slightly.

'Good. And is she still excited about being an older sister?' Luke said softly and I nodded and Luke smiled at me slightly.

'What's that look for?' I said softly and he smiled.

'Well, you wanted to wait until you're married to try for a second. We're married now, and this looks like a quiet room.' Luke said and I was yet to work out if he was joking. Before I could reply, the priest walked in with Theo, Lila, Caroline, two of my cousins and Liam, Luke's paramedic buddy and closest friend – those we had chosen to be witnesses for the signing of the marriage certificate. I stood back and Caroline came straight over to me.

'Sweetheart, you look absolutely amazing. Welcome to the family. Officially, that is.' Caroline said to me.

We were sat down to sign the certificates and Alison took some photos. Eventually, we got told we were ready to leave the Abbey. We were given the final directions on what to do and both Luke and I headed back to the aisle as the priest said some final words and declared us husband and wife and could now leave. Luke took my hand and walked me back down the aisle, holding my hand as Lila followed us happily, holding my veil. We got out to the front of Westminster Abbey and everyone outside started cheering and applauding as Luke smiled and waved. Luke got into the beautiful horse-drawn carriage before he gave me a hand up. Luke then got down from the carriage before he picked up Lila, carrying her up into the carriage with us, sitting her beside himself. The precession started heading to Buckingham Palace.

Luke held my hand in the carriage as we travelled twenty minutes in the carriage, waving at the masses of crowds that had turned up to see Luke and I wed. Lila was also beside Luke happily waving at people. We eventually pulled down the Mall – the massive street leading to the Palace where we saw flags waving around and people chanting and cheering, and Luke turned to me and hugged me to his side as I grinned at him. The gates opened to the Palace and we pulled up.

'Right, we have around an hour until the balcony. What do you wanna do?'

'Nap?' I said and Luke laughed, putting his arm around me as he rubbed the top of my arm.

'YA NAP.' Lila shouted.

'We can let you have a nap, Lila.' Luke said. 'We cannot do the same.' Luke told me and I pulled a face. 'Didn't you sleep well last night?'

'I was fine really, I'm just exhausted.' I said and Luke smiled at me softly before he tilted his head at me. The carriage eventually pulled up and Luke got out the carriage, picking up Lila and placing her on the floor before he gave his hand to me.

'Out we come, my beautiful wife.' Luke said and I grinned at him as he helped me get off the carriage. Some ladies came over to me immediately, saying "congratulations" to both of us before they took the veil off me and allowed me to kick off my shoes before Luke took my hand and led me up to his room. Along the way, Lila started falling behind and Luke picked her up, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder as she fell asleep.

We managed to go into the apartment and put Lila in her bed before Luke and I retired back down to the lounge. Luke immediately came up to me, his arm around my waist as he looked down at me.

'I absolutely love this dress. Is it new?' Luke said and I grinned at him and kissed him softly. Luke deepened the kiss as he put his hand on my upper back. He eventually pulled away. 'So, I was thinking last night.'

'That's dangerous.' I mumbled and Luke laughed.

'Well, we are now married. And we were on about having another baby soon, Lila starts school next year and then you'll be home alone and I'll go back to work full time. We wanted to wait until after the wedding, and you're now off the pill…' Luke mumbled.

' _After_ the wedding, Luke, not during the day.' I laughed and Luke shook his head at me.

'No, Jesus Christ woman. I was on about tomorrow, when we go on our honeymoon, a week without Lila, a week doing nothing but relaxing. I've done the maths, we should be set.'

'Wow, you are eager.' I laughed and he grinned and shrugged.

'You know I've wanted another child for a year now.'

'You're not the one going through it though.' I shuddered as I remembered how _awful_ Lila's pregnancy was – the first twenty weeks were fine and I didn't even know I was pregnant until I was eleven weeks gone. I didn't show, I had no signs apart from a mild cold. Nothing. But after the twenty-week mark, everything went downhill; I ballooned up and was massive, everything was irritating me, and I just felt awful. Not to mention the labour was on a whole new level. Luke and I had an argument and it leads to me going into labour early without Luke there. Luke came home just as I had to start pushing, and Luke delivered our baby girl.

'Grace, I will be there every step of the way – from the start as well. I promise I will be there when you find out and take the test for the first time, I will hold back your hair through the morning sickness, and look after Lila so you can get a lay in when you get tired. I promise I will hold your hand through all the sonograms and bathe you when you don't want to move and just want to sleep. I also promise to pick up the phone to you whenever you call this time, and whether you're calling just because you want takeaway, ice cream, or because you're in labour. And I will be there every second you're in labour this time – I promise.' Luke said sweetly. 'I won't let you have a pregnancy and a labour like you did last time.'

'What if it's another pregnancy from Hell?' I asked and Luke shrugged.

'It might be, but I will be there every step of the way. We know what to expect now.' Luke said and I took a deep breath; I knew I wanted another baby – more than anything. I was totally prepared to have another baby. Luke was an absolutely amazing father to Lila – I had never seen someone so dedicated to their child as much as Luke. I just wanted to have another baby with Luke beside me the entire time. I then realised it was our wedding day; I was still in my wedding dress, makeup and hair were done perfectly, Luke was in his service uniform looking amazing. I took another deep breath.

'Okay.' I said and Luke frowned.

'Okay, what?'

'Okay, let's have another baby.' I took his hand. 'Let's do this.' Luke's face lit up, his eyes shining and he started to grin.

'Now?'

'No, Luke, we've been over this. Tomorrow. Or tonight, perhaps, but most likely tomorrow.' I said and Luke stepped forward, his hands on either side of my face as he kissed me intensely. I pulled away. 'So, we're trying for a baby?' I asked him and he smiled, moving his hand to my abdomen.

'Yeah, we're trying for a baby.' Luke said, his voice breaking slightly as he teared up. He pulled me in tighter to hug me, swaying me gently. 'I love you so much, Grace. I wouldn't be half the man I am today if it wasn't for you. I'm so excited to spend forever with you as my wife.' Luke quickly kissed me again before there was a knock on the door.

'Makeup top up!' I heard the makeup artist called before Luke smiled, going to let them in.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Thirty minutes later my makeup had been topped up and set back into place, my hair set back into its waterfall curls and the veil back in my hair. Luke was by my side, holding my hand, Lila now being babysat by Theo. We were due to make the balcony appearance – a Royal family tradition to have the first kiss. Although, I think everyone knew the first kiss between the married couple happened behind closed doors.

Some security people stood by the window before they started to guide people out onto the balcony; members of the extended Royal family, Jack and Markie, before Theo went out, waving happily before he stood to one side. Caroline joined him to one side before everyone looked in. The security gave Luke and me the nod to head out but I froze.

'Now you freeze?' Luke laughed. 'You've done the hard part, sweetheart, we just need to spend about five minutes for the flyover, the kiss, and then we can get some booze and have a good time.'

'I can't have booze.' I mumbled sadly and Luke kissed my forehead.

'Fine, I can have booze and you can sit and watch me drink.' Luke said and I grinned. 'Come on, I want to show the world, my beautiful wife.' He gave me that look; that puppy dog eyes where he gives a small grin and I could see straight through Luke. He wasn't as complicated as people thought he was. His status didn't change or define him. He was a very loveable child inside, slightly confused. But he was still the man I fell in love with.

'Okay, come on then. Five minutes.' I said and Luke kissed me gently before he took my hand and led me out onto the balcony. We were immediately greeted with cheering crowds – the noise being deafening. I laughed slightly as Luke squeezed my hand. Lila came over to us and Luke bent down for a second, picking her up and resting her on his hip before finding my hand again.

'Look, Lila, look at everyone who has come out to see you.' Luke said to her.

'They are here to see Mummy!' Lila said and I grinned at her.

'They're here to see all of us, Lils.' I explained to her. 'Give everyone a wave.'

We were out on the balcony for another minute, waving at the crowds before Lila was handed over to Theo who continued to get Lila to wave at people, pointing out flags and people in the crowd. Luke gently squeezed my waist. I turned to look at him slightly as he looked at me. There was a slight apology in his eyes as he leant in, gently kissing me. The cheer was absolutely deafening and both Luke and I pulled away at the same time laughing, behind he pulled me into his side and hugged me. He kissed my forehead as I checked over my shoulder at Lila.

'Ewwww.' I heard her whisper to Theo as Theo smiled and I shook my head at her.

'What did she say?' Luke asked me gently.

'She went "Ewww"' I replied back and Luke laughed.

'Sounds about right.'

'Kids, flyovers about to start.' Theo said to us, handing Lila back over to me.

Sure enough, military planes started to fly over us, heading up the Mall and over Buckingham Palace. I didn't know enough about planes to be pointing out what was what but I was talking to Lila and getting her to wave to the planes. Eventually, the Red Arrows flew over and I knew they were they were the end of the parade, tainting the sky red and blue. Lila waved happily to them.

'I want to fly a plane.' Lila said and I laughed.

'You go and fly a plane then, Lila.' Luke said to her before he gently kissed me again. The crowd, obviously unexpecting the kiss this time, cheered even louder than before.

'Mummy, Daddy, no.' Lila said and we pulled away, Luke kissing her cheek on the way through. He took my hand, gently rubbing my knuckles on the way through. 'Are we going in?' Lila asked.

'Yeah, we are Lila.' Luke said before he waved to everyone a quick goodbye. I did the same thing before Luke guided me in, with everyone else falling in behind us, coming over to say congratulations to us once again.

The evening was absolutely fantastic. Shortly after the balcony, we posed for hundreds of photos with family, without family, with each other, with Lila, and so on. Eventually, we got the all clear and put Lila to have a nap in our room again, leaving her with the keyworker she normally has when both Luke and I have an event and Theo cannot look after her. We went down to the reception room in the main ballroom where we were greeted with applause and a six-course meal. The room was then cleared and a massive dance floor was set up; a live DJ had been hired to play songs to please the entire crowd and a large finger buffet was set up to one side of the room. It got to about half eight when I was outside.

'Well well well, five years ago who would have thought we would have all been here?' Mycelia said and Sara nodded, more than slightly drunk already. 'But she did it, she got married.'

'God, you've had a bit too much to drink already.' I laughed to Mycelia and she frowned at me.

'Oh yeah, that reminds me. It's your own wedding, why are you not drinking? And don't give me that lame I want to remember the entire day bullshit because we all know that's not true.' Mycelia said to me and I just looked down at the floor again.

'Waaaait!' Sara shouted and I looked over at her, before looking down at the floor. 'Wait…'

'You're not pregnant again, are you?'

'No, I'm not.' I said. 'Not at the moment…'

'Are you trying?' Mycelia asked me, slightly horrified.

'Good evening girls.' Luke said as he came up to me, putting his arm around my waist.

'We are all older than you.' Sara said aggressively and Luke raised his eyebrows at me.

'Okay, women, good evening women.' Luke laughed slightly.

'Are you two trying for another baby?' Mycelia asked Luke and me this time.

'Not until tomorrow.' Luke said. 'We said tomorrow.'

'Nooooo! Another Lila!' Sara said loudly.

'Not entirely sure that's how that works, Sara.' Luke said before he turned his attention back to the soberer friends. 'Yeah, we've been discussing it for a few months now, decided to wait until after the wedding. Lila goes to school soon in April and it just won't be the same without her around. I've wanted another child for a year, so we made an agreement we won't start until after the wedding. We've already gone to the doctors and done a scan and apparently, it might be a bit harder – something about scarring – but we should be fine to have a second child.' Luke explained to Mycelia.

'Well, guess you two are going to have fun on your wedding night.' She joked.

'I'm exhausted.' I laughed and Luke hugged me to his side.

Thankfully, the night went fast. I spent the majority of the time mingling with family and friends and on the dancefloor too. At three in the morning, we had our last dance in the middle of the floor before being taken outside to watch the fireworks. We had a sleepy Lila with us – having just woken up from her sleep to watch this – and she sat happily on our hips watching the fireworks. Thankfully, we got a lift back up to our room in Buckingham Palace, waving everyone off as we got whisked away.

'That was amazing.' Luke said. We had put Lila back to down to sleep, and I knew thankfully she wouldn't be awake until nine tomorrow – meaning we could at least have six hours of sleep. We quickly had a shower, getting out the hair products and taking off my make up before we just stood in the middle of the room, Luke with only underwear on and myself only a long t-shirt.

'I can't believe it is all over.' I said and I shook my head.

'I can't either, but that's it. We're married now. You're my wife. We can go home after our honeymoon, with Lila, and live happily ever after.'

'Good plan.' I said. 'But you know what we should do?' I said lowly.

'Oh?'

'Go to bed, Luke. We should go to bed.' I laughed and he rolled his eyes before scooping me up bridal style, placing me in the bed before he tucked me up. Then, he awkwardly climbed over me and got into bed as well, placing his arm out so I could curl up into him. The lights went out suddenly and Luke kissed my forehead.

'Goodnight, my beautiful wife. You looked amazing today, and you did amazing too. I promise to love you forever, and I'll be at your side until we both die.'

'I love you too.' I whispered, already half asleep. 'Thank you so much for everything.' I mumbled to him and he squeezed me back, knowing better than to continue arguing. And I did. I really did owe Luke a lot. Before I met him, I didn't realise how bad I had become. I was very anxious all of the time to the point of secluding myself. I barely got out of bed. The days after my parent's deaths blended into one, to the point, two years seemed like two long weeks. Mycelia and Sara had managed to keep me going through university, like true friends, sitting me down in the evenings and making me food, forcing me out on nights out and day trips, and being there for me. But after university, I realised I had to go back to going into a job where I knew no one, being at the bottom, and living alone. Luke, thankfully, had saved me from that. The day we met, when he came in as I was speaking to his Mum, I knew he was something else. That look he gave me. Like I was some kind of saint.

And when he came into my room that night, that closeness he gave me. Hugging me as I fell asleep – it was the first time I had slept properly through the night since the crash. And the weeks after that stretched through, Luke never left my side. He cooked three meals a day, sat down and forced me to eat, told me to shower, kept me warm when I was working and was there when I needed him the most. Then we found out about Lila. I would have lost my mind, gone into a state of panic. I was only twenty. How could I be pregnant? But, of course, Luke stopped me panicking. I could see how excited he was. It didn't matter that he was also only twenty, or he was a Prince, I could see all he wanted was the baby. He helped me through a pregnancy from Hell, held my hand when I could barely walk. Sure, he wasn't there for the majority of the time whilst I was in labour, but looking back, I understood.

And for the last 3 and a bit years, he has been the picture perfect fiancé and father. He looked after Lila for hours on end when I needed to sleep or rest following surgery and after the kidnapping. Even after, when I needed to work or just wanted a break from an always awake baby, he was there in a heartbeat. Even now, he took Lila out for days when I was working, read her bedtime stories, cuddling her in the afternoon when she took her nap.

I owed Luke everything. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Luke. And I wasn't lying when I say I am excited to spend the rest of my life with him.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **A few months later**

'Hey, Luke.' I said as I came around the corner into the kitchen. Luke was cooking our dinner, in a black hoodie and a pair of light jeans. Lila had been put down to sleep already, with both Luke and I reading her a bedtime story before she finally succumbed to sleep. He turned around and smiled at me. He had had a shower a few hours later and now his hair was fluffing everywhere, giving him that childish aspect that made me fall in love with him – that no matter what we have gone through, when we are together or when we didn't even know each other, he will still be that innocent lucky-go-happy boy.

'She's asleep then?' Luke asked and I nodded before I jumped up on the cabinet beside him. He met my gaze, frowning slightly before he realised something was wrong with me. Before he could read my thoughts, I answered.

'Yep, finally.' I said before I bit my lip. By the looks of it, Luke was cooking some kind of pasta. A recipe was on the side, but I knew he wasn't reading the recipe – the chopping board was half covering the sheet of paper. 'Luke, I'm a week late.'

'Week late for what, sweetheart?' He asked, mixing the pasta in the pan before he looked at me, realising what I said. 'What, you're what?'

We had only got married a month ago, and trying for a baby for a few weeks, but both Luke and I were devastated when we came back from our honeymoon and I had started my period. We kind of expected it to be easy – after all, we had only slept together twice before Lila was conceived. So it was upsetting for both of us when I woke up to blood everywhere and severe pains. But now, I was a week late. It might just be coincidence but… I dunno. Something didn't seem quite right. I didn't have any signs with Lila so I couldn't compare but something didn't seem normal.

'I'm a week late for lady things.' I said, trying to put it elegantly. Luke got the message as his face lit up. I couldn't help but grin. 'It might still be nothing, but…' I said quickly, not wanting to get hopes up.

'Let's take a test.' Luke said.

'What about dinner?'

He quickly turned the oven off. 'It's only pasta, we can always get a pizza in if we're hungry after. Come on, you have to go and pee on a stick.' Luke said before he took my hand and frogmarched me up the stairs and into the bathroom. He quietly closed the door behind me, locking it before opening the cupboard door, pulling out a test. I turned it over in my hand, the possibility of coming real and my stomach dropped.

'When did you get these?' I asked, knowing full well I hadn't bought any. I always thought if I did, it would jinx the chances.

'Eh, just ordered them off Amazon a while ago.' Luke said before handing it to me. 'We're married now, it's fine for you to pee on a stick in front of me.'

'So gross, at least turn away. Nothing sexy about peeing and contortioning.' I laughed, and he did what I said – he faced the wall as I peed on the stick. I got up after, leaving the test face down on the side as I washed my hands. Luke came over to me, hugging me.

'What if it's not positive, what if its negative.' I asked him quietly and he shrugged.

'Then I'll buy you lots of chocolate ready for when you start, and we'll try again next month. We know it can take some time, Grace, but we'll get there.' Luke whispered softly to me as I turned around. He hugged me tighter. 'Hey, sweetheart, it's okay. We will get there. We will have another baby soon. I know we will. It just… might take some time. We still have Lila. And if we can't get pregnant this way, there are plenty of alternatives. We will have the second child we've always said we've wanted. I promise you.' Luke whispered, and I nodded.

'Has it been two minutes yet?'

'Nope.'

'Oh God, I'm scared.' I said and Luke hugged me. 'I should have waited longer than a week.'

'Hey, it doesn't matter if you did the test now or in a month, the test will still say the same thing.' Luke whispered to me, his hand over my abdomen. 'If you're pregnant, I'll buy you so much pizza.'

'And if I'm not?' I took a jiggered breath and he hesitated.

'Then you'll have to deal with lots of chicken.' Luke laughed.

'I think it's time.' I whispered, and Luke nodded.

'Yeah, I think it is.'

I gently took a step forward and held the test face down, shaking slightly. Luke came up beside me, his arm around my waist.

'I'm scared.'

'Don't be.' Luke said softly, stilling my trembling hand. I looked down at the stick, scared. It literally told me my fate. But I took a deep breath and turned it around. Luke had splurged on the tests that tell you digitally rather than those awful two lines or one-line tests. So, I immediately saw that I was pregnant.

Big bold writing.

 **Pregnant – 2-3 weeks.**

'Holy shit!' I said, and Luke hugged me before kissing me again. He pulled away with the biggest grin on his face.

'Holy crap, Grace, you're pregnant!'

'Oh my…' I whispered as Luke kissed me again. 'Lila's gonna be an older sister. We're gonna have a baby!' I started crying and Luke held me tight.

'We're going to have a baby.' He whispered to me. 'We're going to be parents again. I love you so much, Grace.'

'What do we do now?' I laughed awkwardly as Luke pulled me into his chest again, my arms wrapping around his waist as I still held onto the test.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **A few weeks after, following the New Year attack.**

I laid on my side, facing the wall in the hospital. Luke had me moved into a small, private room away from everyone else, the room only just about fitting in a hospital bed, a chair next to it, a few feet of space before another wall. I was still plugged into my drip, watching a small drop form in the tube hanging up as I waited for some kind of news – anything. But I had been in the hospital overnight and had yet to hear any good news.

Theo and his girlfriend, Ellie, were kidnapped under our noses. I had the common sense when they didn't turn up to the New Years Eve ball at Buckingham Palace to go and check in their rooms for them, and when they weren't there to track the tracking pin I left on Ellie in case something would happen. When we tracked her down to being in the River Thames, below the London Eye, we got security out to go and find them – and then we got a memo from a random source saying Ellie had information they needed and until she caved in, they would cause her life to be Hell – and they would drag down Theo at the same time.

So we managed to get them off the boat they were held captive on, but it was lined with explosive heavily. The boat exploded, knocking Theo and Ellie unconscious with catastrophic injuries, and myself and Luke and some smaller injuries, including somehow knocking me into having severe morning sickness slash concussion. Luke had burnt his upper arm. We were waiting to have an ultrasound to make sure our baby was still fine.

I closed my eyes as I thought about the baby. I was only about seven weeks pregnant – if that. Any little blow could cause a miscarriage, let alone the impact I had from the explosion. Deep down, something didn't seem right and it scared me.

The door to the hospital room opened and I continued to stare at the wall, wondering if it was the nurse who had come in again to make sure I hadn't escaped. I didn't move as the door was pushed closed gently closed. I heard someone come over to me, sighing slightly and I expected the nurse to walk out. Instead, Luke gently kissed my cheek. I rolled over as he sat down, taking my hand.

'Any news yet?' I asked, rolling over, flinching as I must have hit a bruise. Luke tutted gently as I smiled at him gently.

'They're both out of surgery, they're going to try and bring Theo around tonight. They need to warm Ellie up slowly to prevent shock so she'll take a while. They're stable, though – finally.' Luke said softly and I nodded.

I knew Luke wasn't dealing well with it; he blamed himself for not getting Ellie or Theo away from the impact zone fast enough. He always wanted to protect his older brother but now, he was on the edge of death. It was good news they were bringing him around tonight, it meant he was out of the forest. Ellie, however, was still touch and go. That's what hit me; I promised Ellie I would keep her safe, show her she can trust people, trust people outside of Theo. And I had let her down, and now she was in danger.

'How are you feeling, sweetheart?' Luke continued, trying to change the topic for the sake of both of us.

I started crying as I curled up into his hand. 'Shit.' I whispered as he tutted, pulling the blanket over me as he kissed my cheek. The medicine they gave me to stop me being sick just made me feel worse – but I wasn't vomiting everywhere anymore, so I guess that was a good thing. 'I just want to go home, Luke. I want everything to be normal again.' Luke's mother, Caroline, was looking after Lila for us and couldn't visit the hospital with her for media reasons. At the moment, they had managed to keep the fact the heir to the throne, his girlfriend, second in line and his wife were all injured in the attack. But the Queen bringing in our three-year-old daughter, third in line, would just be like throwing bate into the shark's cage.

'You will go home.' Luke said, rubbing my arm. 'Come on, calm down for me Grace.' Luke said ever so softly as he stroked my arm, eventually calming me down, reassuring me everything would be okay.

I had just calmed down before a nurse wearing pink overalls came around the corner.

'Hiya, I've been called here to do an early ultrasound?' The nurse said and I sat up, nodding.

'Yeah…' I said nervously, and she nodded, pulling the machine in. Luke sat on the edge of the bed with me, holding my hand as the nurse set up the machine, plugging it in and changing the settings. I took a deep breath as Luke held my hand a bit tighter. I looked at him and he nodded at me, gesturing for me to breathe deeply. I did what he said.

'How have you been feeling? I've heard you've had some pretty severe morning sickness?'

'Yeah, only after the incident.' I said and she nodded.

'That's a good sign that everything is okay if you're still having symptoms of pregnancy.' The midwife explained, and I nodded – I never thought of it like that. 'Right, so if you just lift up your top and I'll put the jelly on your belly.' I did as she said as she put some tissue paper to cover my pyjama top I was in.

I looked over at Luke and he had bit his lip, looking at the screen and I knew he was just as nervous as I was. He caught my gaze and looked down at me, smiling at me confidently. I frowned at him and he took a staggered breath. It made me more comfortable knowing that Luke was also very nervous. Like I wasn't alone anymore.

I turned around to look at the screen as the midwife tried to find the baby. I nibbled my lip, scared, as the midwife frowned before she settled somewhere, and I closed my eyes; the scan didn't look like it did with Lila. It looked – broken? That wasn't a good sign. I looked over at Luke, but rather than looking heartbroken or scared, he looked… shocked? His mouth was slightly agape as he looked at the screen.

'Oh, well, you'll be pleased to know everything looks healthy. Is this your first scan, yeah?' The midwife asked.

'Everything is okay?' I asked and she nodded. I took a deep breath, smiling at Luke but he was still fixated on the screen, a crease appearing on his forehead. I looked back at the screen, asking the question I first thought of when I saw the scan/. 'But, why does it look weird.'

'First scan, yeah?' The midwife asked and I nodded. 'It looks weird because there are two babies I there– you're having twins.'

'You what now?' I asked as I looked at the screen. I could see two separate areas with little balls inside and I frowned – it looked like there was two. And it sunk in. Twins. Two. Two babies. I looked over at Luke again and he was still staring at the screen.

'Non-identical twins, by the looks at it. But yeah, there's baby A, that baby is the slightly bigger one which is the norm with twins, you'll always have a stronger baby and a weaker baby. So this one on the right is the stronger baby A, and this one is baby B, and baby B is the weaker one. I'd say you'd be due around the 22nd August, but they'll give you a firm date of birth at your twelve week scan when it's a bit easier to tell the duration, however with twins it is very common to have an induced labour a few weeks early, just to allow an easier birth but it never actually hurts the babies,' The nurse explained. 'But they're both fine.'

'Are they both… alive?' Luke asked, and the midwife nodded.

'Yep, normal blood flow, a heartbeat is there but it's too early on to hear it, but you can see it if you really focus. Everything seems fine, they're growing fine. I wouldn't worry anymore, I'd just worry about how you'd look after twins.' The midwife joked. 'I'll type up my report and then you can be discharged and go home. Your Highness, you are going to have to wait on your wife hand and foot, don't let her get drained down, keep her hydrated and well fed and make sure she rests. The morning sickness she has will take it out of her.' The midwife explained as she wheeled the machine out.

'Oh, I will, don't worry. Thank you again.' I heard Luke said as he showed the midwife the way out before he came back into the room and sat on my bed, holding my hand.

'And we thought we'd have trouble getting one baby.' Luke said.

'Luke – how are we going to handle twins? That's two babies, Luke, two. That's… that's twice what we expected. Two, Luke. We wanted one baby, and my womb multiplied it by a factor of two!'

'I know sweetheart. I just… I can't believe it.' Luke said and I couldn't help but laugh.

'Oh, we're in trouble, aren't we?' I laughed and he nodded before he also laughed.

'Yep, we're in trouble.' Luke laughed before he hugged me, kissing me gently. 'We're so in trouble. Two babies.' He said, hand on my abdomen. 'Two. We're gonna be a family of five. I just… I just can't believe it, Gracie. Two babies! We're having twins.'

'Oh God, it's gunna be an awful labour, I can just feel it now. You're not leaving my side from now on in.'

'Don't worry, I'm surgically attached to you. You won't ever be able to shake me now. We're in this together, right?' He offered me his hand. I took it.

'We're in this together.'

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

And now this is the end! I've been working on this for quite some time but it had to line up perfectly with Hunting Ellie, so it had to be put off.

More from Luke, Grace & Lila can be found in my new FanFiction - Hunting Ellie. It's only a few chapters in, but it'll be updated regularly. It follows Ellie, a journalist for a massive London company who reports on the Royal and finding out her Soulfinder is the hier to the Throne, Prince Theo. But, of course, it's never easy for the Princes.

It is better than I described, so please give it a read.

Thank you all for reading this epilogue - I know it's extremely long but I had a few request for a chapter about their wedding and I thought i'd just carry it on, as people also wanted Grace's POV about the new baby. So here we go.

Please give Hunting Ellie a go!

But once again, thank you all for reading this!


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